


The Rain, the Sea, and the Sky

by bluesandpaper



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, BFFs to strangers to friends to strangers again to lovers, Childhood Friends, Drifting Apart, Especially Seulgi, F/F, High School, I Love You, I love you Seulgi, It's more like, Lots of nostalgia over past relationships, Mostly Fluff, Mostly Wenrene focused, Prankster Seungwan, Reunion, Sorry to my other girls, Stream Eeny Meeny, Stream Irene's OST, Student Council President Joohyun, They're like barely in it, Threeshot, Why are you still reading through all these tags, a smidge of angst, but THANK YOU, it's not friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28537701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandpaper/pseuds/bluesandpaper
Summary: "They're the same sometimes, aren't they?""The sky and the sea?""Yeah. If we were up there," Seungwan gestures above, "And we were looking down..." Joohyun peers over the edge of an imaginary cloud as the junior goes on."You could almost mistake the sea for another sky."---------Class clown Seungwan and Student Council President Joohyun were best friends in middle school, unfortunately drifting apart as they grew older. What happens when they have to work together to plan for the upcoming rally?
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy
Comments: 22
Kudos: 89





	1. The Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a playlist I cobbled together if you want to listen to it as you read! The songs are in no particular order : ))
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5rsEipsplFYIsPmRWyPrNg?si=yEnLJoj0TtOlXytHTZmifg

Confetti shoots out at her right. Confetti shoots out at her left.

As Seungwan walks down the hallways of her high school, she is welcomed with a parade of her own creation. Hers and Sooyoung's, that is.

Usually Yerim would be part of their motley crew, but she neglected to participate in their largest back-to-school prank yet, citing reasons of it being a surefire way to get in trouble. Though, that hadn't stopped her from prank calling the principal last Saturday pretending to be a city health inspector and scheduling a tour for five in the morning the very next day. After waiting for hours, the principal's exhaustion and hasty drive home gave Sooyoung and Seungwan enough time to stuff all of the lockers with confetti, save their own.

As to how they did it, Sooyoung managed to swipe some keys off a cafeteria table left carelessly by one of the janitorial staff at the end of last year. They wasted no time making copies of the master keys to use whenever they needed, which became awfully convenient in times like these.

Their plans were always airtight. They're convinced that their scheme went off without a hitch, leaving no evidence of their connection to the prank.

The duo confidently strides toward their own lockers, hearing surprised squeals from some and excited ones from others. There are students kicking up the confetti like first snow, one even going so far as to lie on the ground outside his homeroom, making confetti angels as his arms and legs swing up and down like windshield wipers. There's a group of boys at the entrance to the bathroom scooping up confetti in their arms and leading a joint countdown before they throw it in the air, letting the pieces of colored paper rain down upon passerbys. The majority looks like they're having fun, and the minority that doesn't finds that wading through the sea of cut paper was a mere annoyance at best.

This is a definite success.

As Seungwan and Sooyoung turn the corner, chuckling at how a girl slips and slides into a particularly hefty pile of confetti, they hear their largest shriek yet. 

It was Bae Joohyun, hand still squeezing the edges of her locker door as confetti spilled down the sides, a torrential rain settling on her shoulders, some still trickling down her uniform while other pieces lay to rest in her otherwise black hair now speckled with color.

She has quite a long list to describe her. The school's angel. The model student. Perhaps most relevant to these current circumstances, Student Council President. 

Of all the nouns that she is, the last is most dangerous for the two pranksters. It means they might have consequences.

Even so, it doesn't seem to stop Seungwan from doubling over in laughter. 

Joohyun's frightened expression quickly morphs into something resembling anger, yet more like a deep seated simmer rather than a boil. She whips her head around, scanning for potential culprits.

That's when she sees her. There, in the center of the hall, palm smacking her thigh like a clapping seal, is Son Seungwan. The girl has just as long a list of nouns. Class clown. Resident prank master. Not-so-evil genius. 

There was no "innocent until proven guilty" for Joohyun, at least when it comes to Seungwan. She is confident that the girl found too much enjoyment in witnessing the aftermath of this prank to be blameless.

As Seungwan pauses her laughter to wipe her eyes of forming tears, she looks up from her hunched position, locking eyes with Joohyun. 

Oh no. She's walking towards her.

Seungwan finds herself rooted to the spot, the rapidly growing pool of the paper blizzard swirling about her feet. 

Meanwhile, Sooyoung, her common sense still present, claps Seungwan on the back before spitting out excuses of needing to head to class. She swings her backpack over her shoulders as she disappears into the crowd of befuddled and amused students coated in colors.

So when Seungwan feels a hand on her wrist, she knows it's not her partner in crime.

With a tug, her feet are suddenly dragged along the tile, trails of confetti following behind.

"Hey, Joohyun," Seungwan says with a shaky laugh. "I swear I can explain."

"There's nothing to explain, Seungwan. You just carried out a very disastrous prank and disrupted the learning environment," Joohyun says, trained authority written into her voice.

"Oh, come on, it was fun, wasn't it? No one's going to get hurt, and it's like a celebration of us coming back to school, wrenching us from the bleak monotony that is our soul-crushing education system!"

Though their pranks were certainly disruptive, Seungwan always ensured that there would be no lasting consequences on the student body. She was a prankster, not unethical.

Joohyun scoffs at Seungwan's strange excuse, as if dismissing it without needing to say a word. "Well, we'll see how fun it is in the guidance counselor's office."

"Woah, hold on." Seungwan pulls them to a stop, bell ringing through the hallways as everyone's already shuffled to class, leaving the waste of colored paper haphazard on the floor. "Can't I call in a favor or something? I don't really want this on my record."

Seungwan should've taken more precautions to conceal her identity as the mastermind, but it was too late for that. It would be hard for her to hide her reputation for these kinds of shenanigans. Now, she needs any other method to get herself off the hook.

Joohyun turns toward Seungwan, not yet releasing the junior from her hold, expression quizzical. "What favors do I even owe you, Seungwan?"

She laughs airily to stall, mentally scrambling through her memories for anything that she's done for the older girl. She breathes in relief when she recalls their long history together, though their connection is almost nonexistent these days.

"Remember the time in middle school when that older guy tried to ask you out?"

Joohyun nods, not quite sure where this story is leading, but curious nonetheless.

Seungwan goes on, "Remember how I totally botched his attempt by pretending I got the stomach flu and was going to retch on him if he didn't move out of my way that instant?"

The junior could see that Joohyun does remember, her cold front breaking slightly, laughter almost spilling through but restricted to a light chuckle.

A part of Seungwan tells her to keep telling stories, continue being an entertainer so that Joohyun could laugh even harder.

It's been years since she's seen the senior like this.

"I guess I haven't paid back that one." Joohyun has a glint of amusement when she gives her verdict. "How about a compromise?"

Seungwan's eyes light up. She could do with a compromise. The girl stands at attention, arms up and back straightened in a mock salute.

"I'm all ears, Commander in Chief Joohyun. What do you need from this loyal soldier?"

Imperceptibly, the corners of the president's lips raise, but they lower again as Joohyun's vision sweeps across the floor, sighing at the mess of colors covering every square inch of the tile save for the tracks that students had made through them, like a food dyed winter wonderland in September.

"I'm sure this would be a terrible inconvenience for our janitorial staff," Joohyun comments. "What if I told them that they didn't have to worry about it?"

"That would be so nice! I'm sure they'll love that." Seungwan's head quirks to the side, asking with slight confusion, “But who's going to clean?”

Joohyun's eyes glimmer with quiet amusement as the corner of her mouth pulls into a smirk.

Seungwan's face falls. She stammers, “D- Don't tell me that I have to —“

"Oh yes," Joohyun interjects. "You have to. But don't worry,” the other corner of her mouth pulls up as well, both joined in smile that expresses smug victory. “You won't be alone. I'll be there to supervise.”

* * *

As soon as the last bell rings, Seungwan is roped out of her classroom, her backpack barely in tow as Joohyun promptly shoves a broom her way.

They stand together as students shuffle out of their classrooms and toward the school entrance, chattering as they went by.

When the hallways clear until only the two are left, Joohyun looks between Seungwan and the floor, a wordless command to start sweeping. 

So Seungwan did, brushing up the bits of paper into piles like raking autumn leaves. Joohyun trails her with a trash can, helping Seungwan dispose of the confetti. Joohyun was clearly more than supervising, but if it let Seungwan get the work done faster, she wouldn't complain.

"You didn't have to take all of this upon yourself. It's not really your job," Seungwan offers, stating the obvious.

Joohyun dismisses the comment nonchalantly. "It's nothing, just my duty."

Glad to see that the sense of strict ethics never left her.

"Couldn't send a student council underclassman to watch me instead?"

"I wouldn't want to bother them," Joohyun says, moving on to the next pile Seungwan created. "Besides, we've been kind of understaffed lately." She sighs, pausing to roll up her sleeves. "Exactly what we need when we have a rally in only two weeks."

"The back-to-school rally?" Seungwan asks, receiving a hum in affirmation. "Also, what do you mean by understaffed?"

"Well," Joohyun begins, "More and more people are leaving after realizing how much work we have to do, not all of it fun. There's more than dances and rallies, there's also paperwork and actually catering to the needs and troubles of the student body." The senior puts a hand on her hip, sighing as she takes a momentary break from the endless collection of confetti. "Sometimes, I think that it would be nice to have more dedicated help."

Joohyun rattles on, talking about various issues the council is currently facing regarding the lack of hands and how much of a trouble this is going to create going forward. The junior mindlessly listens between the strokes of broom to floor.

Seungwan can't help but feel a little worried for the senior. It seems like the role took a lot on her at times, with Seungwan noticing how the senior would always be caught darting in and out of classrooms, running errands for students and staff alike.

She didn't always look the happiest. There were shining moments where the girl would give soft smiles, usually to those that offered a helping hand. But it was clear she had too much to bear on her own. Even then, she never complained, never blamed others.

Seungwan has always wished that she could make those around her smile. That includes Joohyun. All she can manage for now is to continue sweeping, offer her ear for Joohyun's rambling.

As she talks, Seungwan learns that the senior has also found her own quaint reasoning to excuse the continuous leaving of student council recruits.

They're too busy to stay committed to community service. They have other priorities. Student council work is too much.

Seungwan's outside perspective differed. From what she saw, she had noticed that most of them were only attracted to the council because they could spend more time marveling at Joohyun's beauty outside of class. Those kinds of people were not the type to stick around when push comes to shove.

In fact, the student council had practically been whittled down to Joohyun and Seulgi, the vice president and Joohyun's current best friend, as well as a few others who were genuinely interested in student leadership. Those individuals were probably closer to the attaining the aims of the other more lackluster recruits, able to witness Joohyun's naturally cold facade thaw for them, sliding into the instinctive role of caring upperclassman rather than the usual pedestal of school idol that most others had placed her on.

Seungwan could've been one of those mindless followers too, had she not met Joohyun before her groundbreaking high school debut.

They were friends in middle school first — best friends, even.

Their first encounter was so simple. Seungwan was the new transfer from Canada and Joohyun was the class representative, tasked with giving the newbie a tour.

They would've clicked at first sight if not for Joohyun's initial barrier.

Seungwan could tell the girl was bored, having conducted this tour one too many times. So she did what she does best, goof off. 

During the third stop, the cafeteria, Seungwan made sure to swipe a milk carton. She peeled it open with her small, nimble fingers, raised it to her lips, and took a swig. Intentionally, the rascal ended up with a pretty nasty milk mustache. But that was not all. To top it all off, Seungwan threw in her horrible impression of the monopoly man, used only in dire circumstances on the toughest of crowds.

The rest was history.

All Seungwan could remember from that day was how much Joohyun was laughing, as if she hadn't for a long time.

They were inseparable after that. Even if they weren't able to see each other in class, as they were separated by a grade level, they would always go to each other's houses after school. They'd have daily walks to and from, always past that old park with the rusty swings.

Some days, they would stop there on their way. Seungwan's favorite thing to do was to stand on the creaky swings, hold the chains tight, rust lining her hands, and swing as far as she could, kiss the sky and the air and the trees with every stroke.

Joohyun, on the other hand, would always stay with her own feet planted to the rubber floor, cautious and worried.

Somehow, Seungwan knew that if she started flying, Joohyun would catch her. 

Seungwan wonders if she would still do that now.

After Joohyun graduated from middle school, it was almost as if she graduated from Seungwan too. When upperclassmen started fawning over her, when they could no longer walk home together, they drifted apart.

Seungwan wasn't bitter. It wasn't either of their faults, really.

Besides, she had her own support network to fall back on. A few months into the new school year, Seungwan stumbled across Sooyoung, a giant from the grade under her, as well as Yerim, an absolute savage of a sixth grader who always tagged along with Sooyoung.

Joohyun, meanwhile, had started spending time with Seulgi, an adorably introverted classmate and the only one who didn't treat her like some sort of foreign body they weren't allowed to touch, though Seulgi did sometimes fall victim to commenting on how pretty she thought Joohyun was every once in a while.

So they were both fine, both changed, now independent of each other even if their previous existences were like vines intertwined, graduation and new responsibilities a chainsaw that severed their connections.

The junior grew more into the role of entertainer as time went on, always finding that making people laugh was something of her forte. People never witnessed a dismal expression. As long as someone was watching, Seungwan could always be found wearing a bright smile that could stave away any darkness. The only time you might ever catch her face slip, turn wistful, would be when a certain upperclassman walked by in the halls. But then again, Joohyun's cold demeanor might freeze anyone, right?

While Seungwan seemed to escape from her shell, Joohyun might have retreated more into it, becoming more reserved. Whether it was maturity, timidity, or defensiveness, no mere speculator could know. 

If you were to ask the source herself, she might not give a straight answer. It could be that she was affected by the comments around her. When people talked, all they would speak about was her looks. She didn't want to hear their gossip anymore, forced herself to shut them out. 

Despite a cold front, Joohyun was never fully able to stymie the numbers of people who wanted to surround her, drawn to her beauty like moths to a flame. In some way, she built more barriers, keeping very few people to her close — not even few, at that. Her inner circle consisted of herself and Seulgi.

Joohyun City, Population: 2.

Over time, others learned to stay away, admire from afar like she were some center piece in an art exhibit.

That didn't mean Joohyun grew any less kind, the opposite, in actuality. If there was a student in trouble, even if she didn't know them, she would go out of her way to help. She loved to serve the student body, earning a reputation that directly resulted in an election to the position of Student Council President.

Maybe being kind was her way of fixing the comments, changing the narrative. Comments of how pretty she was shifted to comments of how much Joohyun had helped others.

Those comments, Joohyun preferred.

So the former best friends have changed, and they haven't, in some ways, both slotting so easily into their separate boxes, filled-in squares on a grid multiple units apart, no longer intersecting.

And here they are now, their quiet conversations still resounding in the empty hallways of the school, interrupted only by stray teachers walking out of their classrooms and onward to the teacher's lounge. Seungwan doesn't mind the interruptions, the pace of Joohyun's rant never ceasing to pick back up despite them. This was the first time they had really talked since Joohyun graduated those years ago. 

It's familiar and strange all at once.

Seungwan pauses her relentless sweeping, Joohyun holding open the trash for her, eyebrow quirked up in the shape of a question mark.

"Did you hear anything I just said, Seungwan?"

She almost trips over the broom. "Y- Yeah, I did. Something about rallies, less people to plan, hard work, blah blah blah. I wish you good luck with all of that." She hopes that finishing the statement with a smile would earn her some pity from Joohyun.

"You practically missed the most important part."

"Did I?"

"I asked if you wanted to join us, help plan the event."

"Me? Resident class clown and troublemaker extraordinaire?" Seungwan brings a nervous finger to her sternum, pointing self-consciously despite her exaggerated tone. "I may know how to plan pranks, but I don't have the slightest clue as to how that would translate into event planning." 

Seungwan stares at the floor as she continues sweeping, watching the colors recede into white tile as she avoids Joohyun’s eyes. She’s definitely giving that warm gaze that she always does when she wants something, when she would look at Seungwan on their morning and evening walks, on the cusp of asking to stop for ice cream.

Seungwan knows that she would cave in as soon as she saw that look. They might have been distant for several years, but some things just don’t change.

"Seungwan," Joohyun starts, pouting, "That's the thing though! You understand how to get people to have fun." She gestures to the gap on the floor left by the confetti angel student. Seungwan can still imagine his joyous face in her mind, teeth threatening to peek out behind her lips.

Although Seungwan can't see her, she feels like Joohyun is smiling too.

"Your prank today was proof of that."

"And yet I'm getting punished for it," Seungwan quips.

"But consider," Joohyun grins, having caught Seungwan hook, line, and sinker, "You could plan the most fun event of the year and _not_ get punished for it. In fact, the school administration would greatly appreciate it." The president pauses, considering her last statement before correcting herself. "I would greatly appreciate it." Seeing how Seungwan is still unconvinced, she follows with more of a pathos appeal. "You know how boring the rallies last year were, and it's my first major event leading it all, so I just want to make sure it goes well!"

Seungwan has been successfully evading the older girl's gaze, still chasing the edges of cut paper instead of Joohyun's eyes.

"You'd probably do amazing without me, Hyun. You always do."

The old nickname had slipped out so naturally. Seungwan is a little embarrassed actually, to even remember this kind of proximity, as Joohyun nears closer with every sweep of the broom. 

The senior doesn't say anything until she is mere centimeters away, seemingly unfazed by the sudden reappearance of the phrase of endearment, as if she hadn't heard it at all.

"I think I'd do better _with_ you, Wan."

If Seungwan wasn't looking at Joohyun before, she is now. Her smile is smug, and that gaze is still the same warm one that Seungwan _knew_ would make her crumble.

How could she say no?

* * *

Seungwan wishes she had said no. 

She is currently in the middle of an aisle of the nearest Party City, harsh lighting and intimidating displays extending to the ceiling, forming a fun house without mirrors. The store is always more daunting when alone, but thankfully she was with Joohyun. They came to get decorations, not just for the upcoming rally, but to stock up for the entire year. Seungwan could already feel her arms ache from her future of carrying bags of streamers and glitter.

She's not quite sure why she so readily agreed to go on this errand with Joohyun. When a familiar contact appeared in her phone notifications, a number that she still hasn't deleted, she didn't hesitate to open it, finding a text message from the Student Council President concerning needing extra hands for a decoration run, but lacking volunteers.

It could've been the nostalgia she felt at seeing that the senior hadn't changed her texting style in the slightest, still using proper punctuation and formal tone like she was born two generations ago, or it could've been that Seungwan had nothing else to do after school that day, wallowing in boredom. Whatever it was, the junior ended up wandering around the store with Joohyun, offering occasional advice on various subjects including whether or not the student council should invest in a t-shirt cannon or a popcorn machine. (The popcorn machine, of course. Not everyone likes t-shirts, but food is universal.)

Still, perhaps it could be fun. Party City is a location rife with hijinks, and her go-to for any materials she needs to pull off another perfect prank. She knows the store like the back of her hand, so while Joohyun was stooped over inspecting the different prices and quality of confetti, Seungwan sees an opening for a perfect opportunity to mess with the senior.

The Halloween stock is already on the shelves, even if it was mid-September. Capitalism always gets to the consumers early, after all.

It is normally Seungwan's favorite time to visit the store, finding the displays of blown up yard ghosts and cheap plastic masks an entertaining diversion from Party City's usual atmosphere. The fake blood vials and gruesome masks don't frighten her at all, but if Joohyun was the same scaredy cat she knew in middle school (and the confetti prank confirmed this), then the senior is sure to find any of these shoddy props to be nightmare material. 

Seungwan wanders aimlessly around the construction of a short tunnel intended to be a demonstration haunted house, enticing customers to purchase the items that the staff placed in there. 

As she walks through, a rig with plastic bats swings down from the ceiling, triggered by Seungwan passing a sensor on the floor. She flinches before turning to her right, finding a single light illuminating a pile of rubber entrails, oozing with some green substance. Seungwan doesn't pay too much mind to the various other scares lining the rest of the way, able to see mechanical parts peeking out just feet away, poorly concealed.

The staff did a fair job, probably one of the highlights of their depressing, dreary 9 to 5.

It isn't nearly enough to scare her, but it is more than enough to scare Joohyun.

Speaking of the devil, she could hear the president calling her name from two aisles down, clearly suspicious of where Seungwan disappeared to.

An idea was born.

The resident prankster snatches the closest werewolf mask off a shelf near the entrance of the tunnel, swiftly ducking back in as she hears footsteps approaching. The perfect cadence of squeaking school-assigned loafers indicates that it could be no one other than Ms. Bae Joohyun.

"Seungwan? Where did you go?"

The president startles when she heard the girl's voice respond from inside the dark tunnel situated at this far end of the store.

"Joohyun, is that you? I think I got lost," Seungwan says softly, trying her best to take on an innocent tone.

The senior rolled her eyes. "The opening is right here Seungwan, just come out."

Joohyun hopes that she would be quick about it. Staring into the darkness is already starting to give her the creeps.

"I- I'm a little scared. It's dark Joohyun, can you please come and help me?"

At the threshold of the tunnel, Joohyun is at an impasse. Rapidly, she ran through several scenarios.

First, and most likely, Seungwan is just pulling a prank. Joohyun knew that the girl isn't ditzy enough to lose her way through such a straightforward tunnel, probably scheming to lure Joohyun in and scare her.

Second, Seungwan could genuinely have stumbled in and become disoriented. Joohyun would be, if that happened to her. The junior had an uncanny ability to wind up in odd circumstances, so Joohyun couldn't rule out that possibility. However, she still doubted the third scenario...

It was possible that Seungwan was actually scared. The tremor in her voice seemed too real. She could be lost in there, surrounded by those terrifying props, unable to move.

But Seungwan was in high school, she couldn't possibly be affected by those kinds of things anymore, right?

That didn't stop Joohyun from recalling a time when Seungwan was trapped in a similar position, when they were younger. Somehow, she had meandered away from the field trip group on their tour of the city. There were the blinding headlights of cars and buildings, the overwhelming sounds of engines and sewers, and Seungwan was lost amidst all of it. She was alone, desperate, feared that no one would ever find her again.

That is, until Joohyun did. As class representative, it was her job to keep track of all of the younger individuals. She wouldn't miss a single one, especially if they were her best friend.

And Seungwan was. 

Joohyun remembered retracing the path of the tour, breaking away from the group to ensure that Seungwan was safe. At the time, she didn't care about the dogs barking at her heels, the pigeons flying too close to her head. All she cared about was Seungwan. That momentum carried her across busy intersections, past the clocktower with its winding staircase, beyond the pond with those ducks and reeds.

In the center of the park, arms wrapped around legs pulled close to her chest, she found Seungwan. Joohyun grabbed her hand. She didn't let go.

Now, these were completely different circumstances. Young girl lost in the middle of the city. Older girl lost in a 30 foot long tunnel. Hard rationality didn't apply to Joohyun, however. Anxiety still gnawed at the back of her head.

And so she steps in. The girl might hate horror, might hate Halloween, but she hated the idea of Seungwan in danger more. 

So when bats swing down, narrowly missing Joohyun's face, she screams, but goes on. When she is directed toward a view of the most vile human remains, she squeals, but goes on. After a mechanical skeleton dangles to her left, after strange cryptic audio comes pouring out of speakers to her right, she goes on.

Yet halfway through, she still hasn't found Seungwan. Perhaps she really is lost, after all.

As Joohyun steps over yet another mummy doll, she feels something cold on her shoulder. Weird. She doesn't remember the displays being sophisticated enough to actually touch her.

"Joohyun..." A low growl thunders, raising chills along the senior's spine.

How did it know her name?

She is hesitant to turn around, shutting her eyes in fear. She doesn't have a choice though, as hands grip her shoulders and whip her around, bringing her face to face with a horrifying monstrosity of a werewolf, hair attached to unconventional places, bared teeth dripping with the same green slime that coated the human entrails.

Joohyun only gives the predictable response. She screams like a banshee, wail resounding through the tunnel, no doubt spilling out onto the aisles of the store. If the staff didn't solely consist of apathetic teenagers, maybe one of them would have been concerned enough to run over and help.

Instinctively, Joohyun latches onto the hand of the creature, holding it as she delivers a solid punch to its stomach. Between fight or flight, her body chooses the former.

The werewolf recoils in pain, retracting as it sinks to its knees, releasing a groan too high pitched to be a spawn of Satan. As a matter of fact, it almost sounds like Seungwan.

As the monster moves their hands to their head, Joohyun raises her arms to ready for another attack, at least, until the mask was pulled off, revealing Seungwan's mussed tresses.

Though Joohyun should be mad, she can't help but breathe a sigh of relief. First for the fact that the monster isn't a serial killer in disguise, but second because Seungwan is safe.

Before she knows it, Joohyun comes to her knees beside the girl, enveloping the junior in her arms.

Seungwan melts in her embrace, half shaking in pain, half shaking in laughter.

"Ouch, that really hurt," the junior squeezes out between winces. 

The statement is met with a slap from Joohyun, and another flinch. 

"That's what you get, you idiot," the older says, trying to take on a disappointing tone despite her relaxed smile. "You scared me like hell."

"That was kind of the point, Hyun."

Releasing Seungwan from her hold, Joohyun stands up, beginning to walk the direction she came from, throwing a comment over her shoulder. "You're such a jerk, you know that right?"

"It's my middle name," Seungwan responds happily, as if the humor cured the pain of the sucker punch. "Would I be more of a jerk to ask you to walk through the rest of this haunted tunnel with me?"

Joohyun doesn't stop, barely seeing the light of the entrance. "Why would I do that?"

Seungwan explains, pouting, "Because we were already halfway through, and I didn't get to see the rest of the props yet!"

"You can see the rest of them yourself, Wan," Joohyun retorts. As she waves an arm dismissively, it gets caught. She looks at the culprit, discovering that the cuff of her sleeve is now hooked on the gear of the mechanical skeleton's wrist joint. Her goosebumps return.

In this unfortunate moment, Seungwan's voice echoes from a few feet behind her, both knowing and mocking. "Are you really sure you want to walk all the way back there on your own?"

"I'm sure," Joohyun answers as she attempts to free herself from the skeleton's hold, doing her best to not peer up at the plastic sneer written on its ghoulish face.

Seungwan comes closer. "Need any help, President?"

"I..." Joohyun tries extricating herself once again, but feels the tug of fabric. She really wouldn't like to rip this uniform. Sighing, she replies to Seungwan's offer. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all!" Seungwan exclaims, a tad too enthusiastically, reaching over Joohyun's shoulder to unhook the girl. However, her hand stills before she makes contact with the offending joint. "Well, I'll help you on one condition."

"Now's not really the time to be joking around —"

The junior starts walking away.

Joohyun catches the steel glint at her like a devilish wink. Lest she be trapped here alone, she rushes to stammer, "W- Wait! Please help! What do you want?"

"Walk through the rest of the tunnel with me."

"But... But... Ugh, okay, fine!" Joohyun huffs, exasperated. "But promise me you won't terrify me?"

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Seungwan smirks. "But I promise we'll be out of here intact!"

That's quite a dubious answer, but Joohyun doesn't really have a choice.

In mere seconds, the president is freed... almost. Now her hand was clasped by something else, Seungwan's.

The younger was gleaming in spite of the dim light. "Ready for more haunts?"

The president is hardly able to respond before Seungwan is towing her along. Joohyun can only grip Seungwan's hand tighter as fake claws scrape her shoulders and bones rattle underfoot.

Joohyun shrieks as spiders dangle from the ceiling. "I really can't do this, Seungwan!"

Her playful demeanor dissipates, leaving a softer expression behind. "You're doing so well already. Don't worry, we're almost there." As if it were innate, Seungwan slides closer to Joohyun, allowing the senior to clutch her arm to her chest. Seungwan doesn't balk at the sudden contact. "Stay as close as you want," she reassures.

Before they know it, they're at the end of the tunnel, Joohyun not quite ready to let go.

"Why would you put me through that," Joohyun mumbles into Seungwan's shoulder.

The senior's chin bobs along with Seungwan's shrug.

"Let's just say that I think you're cute when you're scared." 

The response was so nonchalant, so casual, that Joohyun almost misses it. Was that really all it was? Her initial scare was surely for the sake of relishing in Joohyun's terror, but that didn't explain her kindness at the end. Why did she encourage Joohyun's comfort if the only purpose was to continue frightening her?

Joohyun doesn't quite know the answer, but settled on a possible conclusion.

Maybe Seungwan knew that Joohyun couldn't make it back alone. Maybe Seungwan wanted to help her through it, some sort of penitence for her wrongdoing.

Maybe Seungwan is just kind like that.

"Anyway," the junior said, inserting herself between the lines of Joohyun's thoughts. "Did you find what type of confetti you wanted? I had a few opinions from my recent experience and..."

Seungwan's voice drones on as she walks further down the aisle, Joohyun simply watching her from behind. She doesn't know what to make of the girl, how she's changed. She is no longer that lost child in the city, steps assured, unbothered by the grotesque displays around her that still manage to unsettle the upperclassman. Though childish in some ways, especially when it comes to practical jokes, she's grown up. Joohyun wasn't there to witness the transformation.

She hurries to take hold of Seungwan's hand again. She didn't let go before, why should she now?

As their hands slot naturally together, fingers interlocked, Joohyun resolves to make the younger carry all the materials back to the car. Joohyun's beating heart was enough for her to carry on her own.

* * *

The next day, Seungwan is sitting with Sooyoung and Yerim at lunch, conversations circling around various topics. Seungwan never did much of the talking with them around anyway, always preferring to listen to their off-topic tangents and banter.

Sooyoung's currently making comments about the latest rumors, while Yerim is responding with snarky asides as to the validity of those statements. Silently, Seungwan watches them ramble, playing out like a radio show before her.

Oftentimes, Seungwan found herself at the center of classroom hijinks, provoking laughs and smiles from those around her. Sometimes though, she prefers this. Rather than be the source of brightness, she just wants to bask in it. And Sooyoung and Yerim are always bright.

She's too invested in their debate over what they think is actually in the mystery cafeteria meat to notice the hand on her shoulder at first.

A nervous cough sounds out from behind her, causing Seungwan to spin in her seat.

Oh. It's Joohyun.

"Sorry, do you mind if I cut into your lunch?"

Maybe Seungwan would, if it were anyone else.

The junior smiles. "No, not at all. What do you need?"

Seungwan can hear the demon duo muttering behind her about how much Seungwan would whine whenever they suggested cutting lunch, but is suddenly throwing away her precious period for School Angel Bae Joohyun.

"It's nothing much, I just need some help with some filing, and unfortunately, Seulgi's not here to help as a result of a meeting with the dance team. I swear we'll be done by the end of the lunch period, but I can't really do it alone."

Seungwan isn't used to Joohyun approaching her so spontaneously. She could feel so many eyes burrowing into her, sudden spotlight drawn on her in the center of the cafeteria. In some instances, she might like that, but only if she was the one who initiated the event that attracted attention.

It seems that Joohyun just draws eyes wherever she goes.

Anxious to get the burning stares off of her back, including those coming from Sooyoung and Yerim, Seungwan hastily agrees.

"Great!"

Joohyun pulls at Seungwan’s arm, helping her up from her seat. Her hand doesn’t let go as she starts walking away, barely giving Seungwan time to sling her backpack over her shoulder and stumble after.

Funnily enough, the junior feels even more eyes on her after that.

They make their way to the student council room, trudging through hallways with straggler students nowhere to be during lunch, too removed from the social scene to pause and watch the school’s queen walk by, hopeless peasant in tow.

As they approach the spare classroom that doubles as the headquarters for the student council, one of the aimless students lingering in the hallway begins approaching them.

"Joohyun! Can I speak with you for a minute?"

They slide the doors open, Joohyun finally letting go of Seungwan's hand. The junior was burning, not knowing if it was from the contact or, now, from lack of it.

"Wait inside. I'll see what this boy wants."

Seungwan pulls up a chair, sitting at the perfect angle to peer through the small window of the door.

The student is nervous, unable to make eye contact with Joohyun as he speaks. It looks like he's saying something important, words weighing down his shoulders, bending him over as he looks down at the floor.

Through the crack of the door left slightly ajar, Seungwan can only make out bits and pieces of the conversation. But one phrase is all she needs to hear to understand what unfolds before her.

"I like you."

So it's a confession.

The boy is tall, fairly good-looking. Seungwan swears she has seen him around before, sitting at the cafeteria table just across from Joohyun's, surrounded by that particular crowd of popular students that were frequent subjects of Sooyoung and Yerim's midday gossip. She remembers catching him stare at Joohyun, even when there were others trying to get his attention.

His low voice comes to a stop as he looks up from the floor, waiting for Joohyun's answer.

Seungwan directs her gaze to the girl, who wears an apologetic expression. Her lips move, and his face falls as she talks.

The junior doesn't need to catch any words through the door to tell that this is a rejection. She would feel sorry for the boy if she wasn't so pleased with the outcome, though it wasn't unexpected. Sooyoung and Yerim had often brought up the topic of Joohyun's constant stream of suitors and subsequent constant stream of rejections.

Yet this time is somewhat different.

The boy doesn't look like he is taking no for an answer, fallen expression morphing into anger, eyebrows knotting and arched. As Joohyun begins to step away, he takes a hold of her wrist, knuckles white.

Seungwan thinks that she's had enough of watching.

She busts through the door, making her appearance as loud and dramatic as possible.

She swaggers and sways as she approaches Joohyun, placing one palm on the door frame as the other clutches her abdomen.

"Ah, Joohyun! I think I ate something really horrible in that mystery meat!"

For a second, Joohyun appears less concerned by the boy invading her personal space and more concerned with Seungwan's physical state.

Seungwan's eyes lock on where his hand is still attached to Joohyun, slicing through and swinging her arms wildly about.

"Move, man, or I'm going to be sick!"

He backs away, stunned at this outrageous and sudden display.

Quickly, Seungwan grabs Joohyun's arm and pulls her to the nearest bathroom which is fortunately just a few feet down the hallway.

She peeks out the door and watches the boy's figure recede down the hall, arms crossed and gait heavy as he storms off.

Breathless, she closes the door, turning to Joohyun who leans against a sink, stunned.

"How was my acting?"

Joohyun lets out laughter that she's been holding in, chuckles echoing across the bathroom tile. "I've seen better."

Seungwan nudges Joohyun's shoulder, with her own, lopsided grin plastered on her face. "No, you couldn't have! That was Oscar-winning!" 

"It wasn't the most original plot, Ms. Actress."

"What's wrong with recycling a scene from the seventh grade?"

A look of nostalgia is written into Joohyun's features. 

"Nothing." Her expression shifts from reminiscence to gratitude. "Thank you, by the way."

"That guy was terrifying, wasn't he?"

The senior's smile dampens slightly. "Quite."

"Well, I'll be your knight in shining armor for as long as you'll have me!"

Seungwan strikes a valiant pose before taking Joohyun by the hand, leading them back to the student council room.

* * *

"Here," Joohyun says, reaching to push a banner out of the way, revealing a gray door with a vinyl label, "Storage", plastered on it. "The files are all going to be in here."

The president walks into the room, ducking under some misplaced streamers and stepping over various cardboard boxes before winding up in a corner lined with shelves of folders and binders.

To Seungwan, it resembles a secret library in the corner of a metal jungle.

"The last president left this whole place a mess," Joohyun clarifies, "But according to laws concerning the practice of student government, we have to keep a lot of these records, and it will be a real pain if I'm trying to file something in reimbursements and end up with a folder for activities requests."

Seungwan has no idea what those words mean in the context of the student council, but simply nods in assumed understanding.

Joohyun chuckles as she reads Seungwan's subconsciously raised eyebrows to mean confusion. "It's not that complicated, so you don't have to worry. I'll show you."

They spend an hour more than they intend to on "filing".

With so many props from past school plays, courtesy of the drama department sharing the storage room with the student council, Seungwan finds it hard to resist reciting all of lines from Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene when she finds the old feathered cap poking out of a stray bin. 

Joohyun laughs through the whole performance, unable to contain herself when Seungwan starts replacing "Juliet" with "Joohyun" halfway through. Maybe Joohyun could change her mind about how award-winning Seungwan's performances are.

If it were anyone else, the proximity created by the close quarters of the storage room might make this more intimate, the beginnings of a riveting romance. 

But it's not anyone else. It's just them, in some damp, dim storage room at the upper west edge of the campus. Still, Seungwan can't explain why her hands become clammy every time Joohyun smiled when Seungwan replaced the love interest's name with hers.

When they are finally finished, the pair back in the not so dark, not so dim student council room, Seungwan takes a look at the clock, eyes widening in realization.

"I'm going to be so late for my biology class!"

Joohyun takes her own look at the clock, somewhat impressed that they were able to kill so much time together. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'll write you up an official excusal slip."

She pulls out a pad of slips from a nearby cabinet, taking a pen off the table to start writing down the excuse. The president reads it aloud as she scribbles. "Official student council duties." Joohyun flicks the pen as she finishes her signature, tearing off the slip quickly and neatly.

"Behold. A presidential pardon," Joohyun says as she hands the paper to Seungwan, who bows as she receives it in mock reverence. 

"I'm too unworthy of such an honor. Thank you for your mercy, your highness." If Seungwan could curtsy for effect, she would've.

Joohyun can't help but smile. "This is not a monarchy, Seungwan."

The junior glances up from her bow, smirking.

"Then why are you such a princess, Juliet?"

Joohyun doesn't want to speak. She'd definitely stutter out some lame response and have to move countries, change her name just to avoid the shame.

Seungwan brushes away the flustered atmosphere, continuing casually.

"I never thought I'd witness the power of the Student Council President. Maybe I should hang out with you more often."

Joohyun recovers as Seungwan sidles past her and out of the room, watching the junior stride calmly to the science building.

"Maybe you should," Joohyun says to the air, as if in some strange twist of fate the broken air conditioner would spring to life, generating a wind that could carry her wish to Seungwan's ears. "I'll need a knight in shining armor."

It would be fine if she didn't hear it, though. Joohyun would just have to resolve to spend more time with the junior on her own.

* * *

And resolve she did, making more excuses about things that they would have to plan, sending underclassmen home early to create the illusion of no one else around to help.

Seungwan didn't mind being pulled in all directions though, not if it was Joohyun doing the tugging.

So here she is, at the end of the week, pulled along again.

They are walking to the gym from the student council room after school, hoping to scope it out and finalize where they plan to hang the decorations. The buildings are on opposite sides of the campus, making their walk longer than most.

It is cold too, weather indicating the seasonal transition between summer and fall. This is reflected in the growing gray sky sprawling overhead, like it was about to rain.

Joohyun doesn't normally like the cold, but walking alongside Seungwan somehow made the atmosphere warm up by a degree.

The younger's voice, like hot chocolate, spills out.

"So the school is already buzzing about your latest rejection."

"Oh, really? Well, it's not new, I suppose."

Apparently the boy was wealthy, popular, and handsome. Not that Joohyun had noticed, or even cared.

It was odd how others often found themselves more invested in her affairs than she was.

"A lot of people are jealous," Seungwan says. "They're saying he's a real catch." The junior's face shrivels in disgust. "I don't think a catch would ever treat anyone like that. I know I wouldn't."

Joohyun doesn't know how to respond. The whole scenario sounded like something out of a drama, too complicated and frivolous for her taste. 

In fact, she had gotten a concerning note earlier today, a warning taken directly from the script of a soap opera. 

"Stay away from her, or things will escalate," it read.

What a contrived movie plot.

Joohyun doesn't know who the "her" is, doesn't know who could've sent this message. Rising tensions over her rejection, a rally to plan, and now this? It's starting to become too much.

Fortunately, Seungwan's comforting presence was a great distraction.

"Speaking of catches," Seungwan says, putting her hands in her pockets, "What's your ideal type?"

"Where did that question come from?"

"Oh, I don't know." She shifts from side to side. "Just curious, I guess?"

Cold air brushes across Joohyun's cheeks as she walks, lips pursed in thought. Her hands, holding onto supplies from the student council room, are turning red from the cold.

Joohyun answers with the only thing she can think of.

"Someone warm."

"Is that all? Not even a quality like intelligence or humor?"

"Kindness is a quality. Kindness is warmth."

Seungwan rolls her eyes, smile showing anything but disappointment.

"You're just saying that because we're walking in the cold." The junior pulls Joohyun close to her side, radiating with that indescribable quality that Joohyun craves.

"You don't need anyone else, then," Seungwan comments, voice hardly a decibel above silence. "I'll be warm for you."

Joohyun nuzzles into Seungwan's sleeve. Well, they wouldn't have to worry about the cold much longer. Soon they would be in a well-insulated gym. Unfortunate how the school would spare no second thought to keep the student athletes warm while the rest of the school population froze. She'll have to keep that issue in mind for the upcoming year's agenda.

When they reach the gym, pushing open the heavy metal doors, Joohyun notices how unusual it seems so empty. It was normally packed with students during events, P.E., and games, but even when she was there over the summer, setting up extracurricular events with the rest of the few student council members, it didn't appear to be so vacant.

It's a hardwood desert, Seungwan and her being the sole travelers on a mysterious journey across this wasteland.

Of course, the lines of the basketball court somewhat ruin the ambience of it all.

Besides, this is no journey, they have work to do. They don't have much time to waste either, since they were already two hours past the last bell, having spent those previous hours with floor plans and markers. The janitors always locked up at three hours after, leaving only one hour to spare if they didn't want to spend the night at school.

So they got to business, Seungwan pointing at the rafters to suggest they tie a net and have a balloon drop, Joohyun countering with practical concerns surrounding how they would even get up there. They continued like that, with the junior proposing incredible, but insane ideas, and the senior shutting them down and presenting their limitations. Sometimes, Seungwan would evade such worries, contriving new plans that took into account all possible considerations. Maybe they could spend more time looking into those ideas together later then.

They've looked at all of the major locations in the gym, where they need to place the large banner, what streamers would look nice around the handles of the bleachers. They're very well done for the day, with no real reason for them to continue dawdling around.

Yet Joohyun wants an excuse to extend their time together. 

She looks across the gym, spotting racks of basketballs left out from yesterday's home game. 

"Ah," Joohyun begins, pointing at them, "Maybe we should put those away."

"What if we don't?" Seungwan proposes. "Want to play a game instead?"

That is a much better idea. It happened to be a bonus that Joohyun could never turn down the opportunity to play a game.

"What do you suggest?" Joohyun asks, curious.

"Ever heard of the game 'Horse'?"

Joohyun nods, having played it once as a kid. She hasn't touched basketballs very much over the past few years, academics always taking precedence over more "unnecessary extracurriculars" as her parents might say. Still, she's athletic enough to be confident in whatever Seungwan challenged. Well, she also might have been on the girl's basketball team in middle school, something Seungwan may or may not remember. Either way, this is a game basically rigged for Joohyun to win.

"Let's make it more fun, spice it up a bit," Seungwan adds. "How about we raise the stakes? Whoever wins gets to ask whatever they want of the loser."

"Sounds exciting."

"Trust me, it will be," Seungwan declares as she grabs a ball from the rack, passing it to Joohyun. "Princesses first."

The president ignores the comment, dribbling to the free point line. She staggers her steps, bounces the ball twice, straightens her arms on the release, and swishes the ball. Nice to see that these natural abilities have not left her.

Without surprise, Joohyun retrieves the ball as it bounces under the net, nonchalantly passing it back to Seungwan.

Her jaw is hung agape. "Forget princess, I should be calling you queen."

"If you played as well as you talk, you would beat me easily," Joohyun shoots back, pride clearly written over her features.

"Be assured that I don't," Seungwan says, walking to the free throw line as Joohyun backed away. "I had an extremely short stint of playing basketball in the fifth grade, but it's likely something that you wouldn't need to worry about." 

Worry she does not, as Seungwan completely airballs.

The junior plays it off with a laugh, tossing the basketball to Joohyun. "Goodbye, H. It was my least favorite letter anyway."

"Really? Why?" Joohyun probes as she lined up her shot at the three point line.

"When you sound out the 'H', it sounds like you're panting. No one likes panting."

Joohyun is too busy laughing at that bizarre explanation that she actually misses. Aw, no fair. She was distracted. 

"So even our perfect majesty falters sometimes, huh?" Seungwan jokes.

"Of course I do," Joohyun answers succinctly. She can't admit that she only tends to lose so much focus in the presence of one particular class clown.

"Let's hope that, conversely, the knight has a few shining moments."

As if she predicted the future, Seungwan sinks her shot.

"Hmm," the junior says, rather perplexed herself. "I guess I had enough practice in fifth grade to create skills that would last a lifetime."

Joohyun shouldn't underestimate Seungwan. On most occasions, the girl would have enough bad luck to miss almost every shot, but today must have been her lucky day.

They whittled down each other's letters, both down to their last 'E'.

However, they had been stuck at the final letter for almost fifteen minutes, Seungwan's sudden basketball prowess seemed to have disappeared without reason, perhaps suspiciously so. Joohyun, on the other hand, had been trying to achieve trick shots that would guarantee her chances of winning. If she made them in the first place, that is.

The president is starting to grow skeptical of Seungwan's sudden string of failures. The girl is fairly close to the basket, somehow unable to make shots that she had accomplished so easily just minutes ago.

Wait, is she... letting Joohyun win?

From their past interactions, Seungwan is well aware of how much Joohyun enjoyed games — even more so, winning. But it is never fun when the opponent doesn't give their best effort.

This became a new game entirely. Forget basketball, forget victory. Joohyun was now determined to _lose_. Sure, she might give up a chance to get the junior to do absolutely anything, and all of the infinite possibilities that came with that, but she preferred leaving her dignity intact. 

And losing to Seungwan didn't seem that bad.

All she had to do was get Seungwan to score once, and then botch her own attempt. Simple.

"Wan," Joohyun called out. "Why are you missing all of those easy shots. What would even happen if you tried something harder?"

Seungwan smirks. "I'd miss the more difficult ones too."

Joohyun bats her eyelashes. "Better for me, right?"

"Certainly," Seungwan responded. Though she understood that that course of action would be worse for her chances of winning, Seungwan predictably takes herself to the half-court line. "Watch me make this backwards, then."

Joohyun starts to doubt the efficacy of her plan. It isn't exactly soundproof, seeing as there is hardly less than a percent chance that Seungwan could actually make that shot.

The senior crosses her fingers as Seungwan aligns herself along the half-court line, making a show of adjusting her shoulders to the ideal angle, even though they both know that she will put very little effort into ensuring this attempt's success.

As the ball left her fingers, Joohyun watches as it defies the laws of physics, forming a perfect arc as it travels toward the basket, reaching its target like a trained nuclear missile. With a swish, it falls to the floor, rebounding four times before it settles to rest, Joohyun too stunned to retrieve it for her junior.

"Aw, darn, I didn't..." Seungwan begins, stalled by the realization of what had just occurred. "I... I made it?"

When Joohyun breaks out of her stupor, so too did a grin break out on her face. She always won, after all, even if that meant winning at losing.

Confidently, she saunters over to the half-court line, absentmindedly tossing the ball over her shoulders and watching it fling in some random direction.

"Looks like you win."

"I- I guess I did," Seungwan replies with an upturn at the end, almost as if she were asking a question rather than stating a fact.

"Have you thought about what you wanted from me?" Joohyun inquires as she collects the ball and puts it back into the rack.

Seungwan gathers up the carts, rolling them to the corner of the gym where they were usually stored. "I'll have to keep thinking about it."

"You have my number," the senior offers. "Just let me know whenever you think of something."

"Sure. So we'll be heading home now?"

Joohyun answers with a sigh, "I suppose so."

She shouldn't get too greedy with Seungwan's time, but she couldn't help it. The hours passed all too quickly when they were together.

As they walk toward the exit, Joohyun notices the sound of rain pattering on the metal roof.

"Ah, I didn't bring an umbrella."

Ever the optimistic one, Seungwan puts a positive spin on the situation. "It's a free shower after all the exercise!"

Joohyun just laughs. Maybe the heat of the gym is getting to their heads. They'd be out soon anyway.

She presses the handle to open the doors. 

They don't budge.

Checking her watch, she looks at the time. 

Oh. They're thirty minutes past closing.

Noticing Joohyun's frown, Seungwan pipes up. "What's wrong?"

"We're locked in."

Seungwan's face falls for a second, before rebounding as fast as a basketball could bounce.

"Look on the bright side," She says, nudging the senior. "We have an excuse to skip our assignments for the day."

That statement only gives the upperclassman more anxiety, starting to fidget nervously. She doesn't know of anyone she could call that could get them out, short of ringing the fire department and having them bash the doors in. The secretaries were long gone, and she doesn't have the numbers of any of the janitorial staff. They could always hope that a stray security guard would roll by on their rounds, but Joohyun was well aware that their work ethic is lacking, to say the least.

Luckily, Seungwan has a solution. "Let me just call Sooyoung and Yerim. They know how to break into anything. They'll be able to get us out of here in a flash. Just sit tight, and we'll be out before you know it."

The junior steps away to call the pair while Joohyun slumps to the floor beside the doors. They were lucky that they had brought their backpacks with them. It's one less thing to worry about.

Out of courtesy, the senior tries her best not to eavesdrop, distracting herself by counting the number of lights that hang on the ceiling. She couldn't help but catch some odds and ends of the conversation, though.

Something about how being trapped with, blah, blah, unintelligible muttering, was the perfect opportunity, eccentric gesturing, blah, we'll be there in an hour.

Joohyun can't piece together enough to fully understand what the hold up was, but she wouldn't complain. Better to wait an hour than to wait the whole night. She'd have to change her perception of the girls' unsavory skill set.

Soon, Seungwan is at Joohyun's side, relaying how Sooyoung and Yerim had their own school projects to take care of and would only be able to swing by with the proper materials in an hour. Joohyun had heard that much herself, readily accepting Seungwan's explanation.

"So," Seungwan starts, "What do we do now?"

Joohyun is about to reach into her backpack and suggest that she has some books to study, but Seungwan's hand meets hers, stopping her from taking anything out.

"Oh, come on, Hyun. This is possibly the only time we'll ever get locked in a gym together and you want to use it to study?"

"What else am I supposed to do?"

Seungwan bites the inside of her cheek, paused in thought. 

"How about another game?"

"I don't really want to play basketball again —"

"Not basketball, just talking."

That sounds interesting enough. Joohyun would always prefer talking with Seungwan to studying, even if she was expected to prefer the latter over the former.

"What do you have in mind?" Joohyun questions.

"We can test our chemistry. I'll say two choices, and on the count of three, we say which one we like better. If we make more of the same choices, then our compatibility is higher."

Part of Joohyun thinks that such a simple game would be a poor indicator of how compatible they truly are, but the other part of Joohyun is curious. 

"Why not?"

"Okay then, let's do a practice round. City or suburbs."

Seungwan counts down.

"City," the junior says.

"Suburbs," answers the senior at the same time.

"Guess we're already incompatible," Seungwan teases.

Joohyun pouts. "It was only one round."

"Let's hope the next ones don't all go like this then," the class clown jokes. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you like about the suburbs?"

"It's comfortable. The city's a little too busy for me," Joohyun explains. "It's easy to feel small in a city."

"What if you were there with someone else? Would you feel less small?"

Joohyun imagines holding hands along city streets, walking side by side as cars rush by. She thinks of sitting on apartment balconies and people-watching, having a birds eye view as businessmen and interns bustled on the concrete. She thinks of warm sweaters in the cool spring season. She thinks of someone with just as warm hands and even warmer smiles. If she was there with Seungwan... If she was anywhere with Seungwan, whether it be city or cramped storage room or locked gymnasium...

"Maybe," the senior replies.

Seungwan nods, accepting the response.

"Reputation or love?"

These choices came out of the blue, they warranted some sort of clarification, Joohyun thinks.

"What do you mean, between reputation or love?"

Seungwan leans into the wall, an indent forming around her shoulder pressed into the navy blue padding. Joohyun watches her sigh, close her eyes as she tries to conjure a comprehensible explanation. The senior gets the feeling that there's more to the question than just a simple choice.

Seungwan bites the inside of her cheek, her lower lip pulled inward.

"Think about it this way. Let's say that you are in a position of power, respected by members of your community as someone ruled by order and tradition. But you love someone that society cannot accept. If you run off with them, you'll lose all of what you have."

"It's just like you to come up with a plot straight out of a novel," Joohyun says with stifled laughter.

"Hey, I asked for you to make a choice, not critique my example. I'll give you a second to think about it."

Think Joohyun does, perhaps too much. In the silence of the gym, cool air seeping through some unreachable window, Joohyun thinks. 

Reputation or love.

Though Seungwan's scenario recalls a medieval fantasy, a story too far removed from her own, Joohyun can't help but remember making a similar choice before. 

She looks over at the junior, eyes closed as she listens to the sounds of the rain, the cushioning of the wall a pillow to rest her heavy head. 

Seungwan was a choice she made, before.

Joohyun remembers the circumstances that led to them drifting apart. She remembers telling Seungwan that she was busy. It was high school. A middle schooler wouldn't understand.

She remembers conversations with new people, conversations circling around her attachment to a particular middle schooler who wouldn't understand. She remembers pointed remarks about immaturity, remarks that included words like lame, words like immature.

And Joohyun hadn't changed much after she made that choice. She was worried then, is worried now about what others think. 

And her choice was to leave Seungwan then. What would her choice be now?

She feels guilty about it, as she traces the lines of Seungwan's face, usually bright smile as dim as the lights of the gym. It all reminds her of a decision she regrets. She recognizes that absence of light from when she'd pass her in the halls, catching the girl staring only to avert her eyes so quickly.

All of it was reversed in a second, when she took her hand in that hall full of confetti. She doesn't want to let her go again.

The junior's eyes open.

"Have you made a choice? 3..."

Seungwan looks as though she had already come to a conclusion minutes ago, before even posing the question. Perhaps she went through the same thought process as Joohyun, albeit much quicker, more decisive. She's more carefree after all, not as attached to illusory reputations as Joohyun is. 

"2..."

Though Joohyun had not been close to her for these several years, she feels like she knows Seungwan's answer before she even says it. Her main goal had always been to make others happy, and if it took flipping off a crowd for the one she loved, she would do it in a heartbeat.

"1..."

All this thinking, and Joohyun still can't answer.

Seungwan smiles at her like she knows. "Well, I didn't mean to dump a heavy choice on you there. Let's go back to an easier one." The junior puts her hand to her chin as she searches for another set of options, ones that preferably don't have Joohyun question her life choices.

"Sea or sky? 3, 2, 1..."

The choice is obvious enough for Joohyun.

"Sky."

"Sea," Seungwan follows, a millisecond after.

As if trying to see said sky through the ceiling, the junior angles her head upward, pressing her crown to the padding. "They're the same sometimes, aren't they?"

"The sky and the sea?"

"Yeah. If we were up there," Seungwan gestures above, "And we were looking down..." Joohyun peers over the edge of an imaginary cloud as the junior goes on. 

"You could almost mistake the sea for another sky."

"There are a lot of differences though, aren't there?"

"Well, yes."

Joohyun begins an explanation of the opposing viewpoint. "Firstly, their chemical compositions are entirely different. The sea is a liquid. The sky is a gas."

"You could say that the sky has water vapor too, just in gaseous form. And they're both intimately connected through the water cycle. The sea evaporates and becomes the sky. The sky condenses into clouds and rains down. The rain makes its way back to the sea. So on and so forth," Seungwan rambles, revealing a contemplative depth that Joohyun hadn't noticed before.

Too quickly, she returns to her usual jesting self. "I would know because we covered it in every single biology class we've had since the seventh grade."

Joohyun continues developing her line of reasoning. "I suppose that they are also too distant to be considered remotely close to one another. They're separated by miles of air."

"That depends on where you believe the sky starts and the sea ends. Look out far enough and you'll see that they're holding hands on the horizon."

The sky and the sea holding hands. What a cute way of thinking.

"Don't they look visually disparate too? Often, the sea is a much darker blue."

"Well, let me put it this way," Seungwan begins. "Have you ever seen the sky on a stormy day? It churns, rumbles with thunder, a shifting, tumultuous gray throughout. On those days, the sea appears the same. It churns, rumbles with the tides, a shifting, tumultuous gray throughout."

"How poetic," Joohyun comments. "Do you think of these things often?"

"I wouldn't say that I think of these particular subjects too much," Seungwan says, bashfully rubbing the back of her nape. "I just end up thinking a lot."

Joohyun hums her acknowledgement, the conversation drifting to a lull.

The senior breaks the silence first.

"I guess I've never thought of it that way. They might be more similar than I thought."

"Or maybe not," Seungwan poses, seemingly overturning her entire argument. "They don't have to be similar to stay together, like they don't need to have direct contact to stay connected."

An inkling of Joohyun feels that the statement holds more depth than Seungwan wants to reveal.

"Joohyun, have you ever seen the sea fall from the sky?"

The senior imagines a thick blanket of water appearing above their town, slapping down onto the pavement and streets and buildings, dyeing everything blue. If she ever witnessed such an event, she likely wouldn't have survived to tell the story.

"I can't say that I have."

"Then I found out what prize I want from you," Seungwan states as she stands, offering a hand for Joohyun to take. "Let me show you what it looks like."

The president is confused, but takes Seungwan's hand without hesitation.

"How are you going to go about doing that?"

"You'll be surprised at what I can do," Seungwan says as she walks behind the bleachers, finding a door tucked into the corner of the building. "Roof Access", the sign reads.

"Seungwan, you can't take us to the roof when it's raining."

"But it's not raining," the junior comments as they enter the stairwell.

Joohyun worries that the girl has lost some brain cells from being stuck in the gym for so long.

"Then I must be hearing incorrectly, because I'm convinced I can hear the rain coming down on the roof."

The metallic noises were unmistakable, an annoyance for most students who spent their P.E. periods inside the gym on days like this. The incessant patter resounds like their footsteps, filling the usually silent passage with white noise.

"That's not the rain you're hearing, Hyun," Seungwan smiles, letting go of her hand once she reaches the top of the steps. She opens the door leading to the roof. "The sea is falling from the sky."

And it is. 

That shifting, tumultuous gray that Seungwan described earlier is hanging before her eyes, a moving tapestry of weather, dancing above their town.

Joohyun had always liked looking at the sky, but usually that meant when it was sunset or sunrise, colors dashed on cotton clouds. But somehow, even when all she sees is this expanse of dark gray, barely able to make it out between the raindrops that crashed on the sheets of metal coating the rooftop, she still finds it beautiful.

Seungwan made it beautiful.

She took the sea and all of its rolling majesty, slow waves and water, put it into a bucket, and splashed it across the heavens. All it took was a few words, and Joohyun's everyday scenery was transformed.

The sea is falling from the sky.

She had never looked at rainy days like this before, and likely never would again unless Seungwan was there, painting a coat of magic across normalcy. There was nothing out of place about the junior, but somehow... somehow her words, her presence, it was all a fantasy to Joohyun.

How easily did Seungwan turn the commonplace into a rarity, a rarity that became common whenever she was with her.

The junior steps out from under the awning, stretching her arms out to catch raindrops in her palms.

"Hey!" Joohyun shouted, "You're going to get sick!"

"I'll survive a cold, Joohyun," Seungwan replies. "But I don't think I can survive without enjoying the rain a little."

She hops into a puddle that formed in an indent on the roof, splashing water onto her navy slacks. The cold makes her giddy, giggling as droplets are thrown upward, crashing into the raindrops that come from the opposite direction.

Joohyun can only watch with a smile.

"It would be nice if we had some music up here," Seungwan remarks.

"Oh really, what for?"

The junior's eyes flash with mirth as her loafers tap out a rhythm on the metal.

"So we could dance!"

Seungwan steps her way along the roof toward the awning. Once again, she offers a hand for Joohyun to take. 

Once again, Joohyun doesn't hesitate. 

The sounds of rain on roof become its own symphony, plinking and plunking tones far removed from those heard on conventional instruments. The atmosphere rumbles its own bass line, thrumming like their hearts. The pair spins to the irregular cadence, hands clasped together. They box step, they fox trot their way across the ceiling.

In all of their amateur glory, they show the true meaning of the word. They have no latin roots, no foreign moves. But they know amare. And they would dance with love.

When the water soaks their shirts to their seams, when their socks grow damp from waltzes through puddles, they don't notice. All they know is that the world is ending, the sea is falling from the sky, and all they have is this magical, musicless dance.

But all at once, it's over, their trance interrupted by a ringtone reverberating from Seungwan's pocket.

"Oh, it must be our saviors," Seungwan says.

Joohyun doesn't feel like she needs to be rescued right now, but reluctantly walks back down the stairs as Seungwan pulls her along.

By the time they walk back to the exit, Sooyoung and Yerim have already cracked the door open.

"Seungwan, you're such an idiot..." the taller starts to say, until she notices the state of their appearances. "Woah, why are you both soaked?"

The junior beams. "Felt like taking a bath in the sea today."

Sooyoung and Yerim exchange a look.

The sophomore rolls her eyes. "Don't tell me being locked in here made you crazy."

"Oh, she's definitely crazy," Yerim chimes. "We both know she has a lockpicking kit in her backpack, and yet she didn't use it on the door! She has to be insane if she made us come all this way to come get her."

Joohyun balks, turning to the junior. 

"You had what?"

Seungwan paces away before Joohyun could press any further, wrapping her arms around the demon duo.

"Sorry, Hyun, they have a project to get to! I'll see you later, okay?"

Joohyun sighs, but contentedly. Perhaps the resolve to spend more time together was not all that one sided.

As she makes her way to her car, she doesn't feel the need to run even as raindrops drip down her arms and legs. Her feet fall in constant rhythm, another dance in the sea.

* * *

That Saturday, Joohyun is woken up by a phone call. She doesn't get many of those.

Rolling over and fumbling for her glasses on the bedside table, she puts them on, looking at the caller ID on her screen.

Wan.

The president doesn't remember making plans with her. Why would she be calling?

Swiping to answer, a bright voice comes through the speakers.

"Good morning, Joohyun!"

The senior, still groggy from sleep, croaks out, "Hello, Seungwan. Did you need something?"

"Not really, I was just wondering if you were free today."

Joohyun quickly runs through a mental itinerary. She was planning on reading the next chemistry chapter and catching up on other academics, having replaced most of her study time for the past week with Seungwan. 

It couldn't hurt to set aside her studies again.

"Yes, I'm free. But I don't recall us needing to do anything for the student council today. Don't you want to enjoy your weekend?"

She hears a scoff from the other end.

"You must think so lowly of me, Joohyun. We don't need to be working to hang out together."

"What else would we be doing?"

Seungwan tsks, disappointment pouring through the telephone line.

"All you think about is work. Haven't we done enough this past week?"

That much was true. With Seungwan around, event planning had suddenly become Joohyun's favorite pasttime.

"Well," the junior continues. "I thought we could have some fun. There's a weekend discount at the aquarium in the city, students get in free!"

Joohyun doesn't warm up too well to the idea of fish, but Seungwan sounds excited. She couldn't say no.

"Sure. What time should we go?"

"They close at 6:00, so maybe we should leave at 1:00?"

"I'll drive over ten minutes before, then."

"Do you need my —"

"No, I remember your address."

"Huh, okay. It's a date! I'll see you then."

With Seungwan's bright voice fading into the beep that followed all calls, Joohyun's features light up.

It's a date.

* * *

Two hours after that call, most of which was spent by Joohyun raiding her closet for something presentable to wear (she wasn't quite sure why she was fussing so much), Joohyun rolled up to Seungwan's driveway.

Shooting off a text to let the girl know she's there, Joohyun waits, with Seungwan appearing in her doorway a minute later.

As she approaches Joohyun's car, the senior catches more details of her outfit. Unbuttoned flannel thrown over a graphic tee, sleeves rolled into cuffs.

How could Seungwan make cute look so effortless?

Joohyun, on the other hand, had put perhaps too much effort into her outfit to only wind up with a simple sundress and pumps.

Seungwan opens the door to the passenger seat with a smile, easily sliding into the car.

"You look cute today, Hyun."

Correction: the effort was all worth it.

"Thank you."

They sit for a minute as Joohyun punches the address of the aquarium into her phone and Seungwan chooses appropriate music for their drive.

Soon enough, Joohyun put her foot on the gas and pulls out of the cul de sac.

Seungwan looks pleased with her choices. "Ready for 30 minutes of the best songs you'll ever hear?"

"It'll be hard to hear them if you're talking the whole time," Joohyun warned, without any bite.

"You'd leap at the opportunity to hear my voice!"

She isn't wrong about that.

So as Seungwan wasted away the half hour belting to the music of 80s, Joohyun wouldn't complain.

* * *

When they walk past the admissions counter, Seungwan already feels as though they are underwater. 

The walls are painted a deep blue, lighting becoming more scarce as they follow the long corridor at the entrance. 

There are models of fish hanging from the ceiling, postured to appear swimming. There are schools of minnows, sea turtles in jet streams, reef sharks center stage. The plastic models, despite being still, appear as though they are in motion, forming patterns of movement above their heads.

Like sea foam, excitement and awe bubble up in Seungwan's chest. She can't imagine how she will feel once seeing the actual exhibits.

Joohyun is already walking past, inspecting the map offered at the information counter. Noticing how Seungwan lingers behind, she turns to witness the view — not the one overhead, but of Seungwan, eyes transfixed to the chandelier swirl of life across the ceiling.

She thinks that if she didn't take her hand to bring the junior back to reality, they might've spent hours in that corridor alone. 

"Come on, Wan. Let's go see the freshwater exhibit first."

They meander in, following the bustle of people lining the tanks. As they enter, they are focused on a central display constructed to emulate a river, water cascading down a series of levels as fish swim upstream. The salmon and trout glitter under the fluorescent lights, mossy green water flowing in eddies around them. 

Outside the tank is another spectacle, children pressing their palms against the glass as they peer in. They tap to get the attention of the fish, doting parents having to seize their hands to stop them. Their little pouts were adorable.

Joohyun watches these interactions from several feet away, until she notices the absence of Seungwan from her side. The girl had joined the children, squatting down to be at eye level with the freshwater creatures. Joohyun could see how she trails their fins with her eyes, laughing to herself whenever they gape, mouths bobbing up and down in rhythms that mimic the water trickling steadily down the tank.

The senior pushes politely through, bending down to join Seungwan.

"Are they that fascinating?"

Seungwan doesn't break her gaze as she replied. 

"I think they are," she responds, voice just loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the other visitors. She points at a green, speckled fish, staying close to the rocky bottom of the tank. "That one there is a Chinook salmon, also known as a King Salmon, because of how large it is. Fun fact, it's probably the most common fish in rivers and streams in North America."

Joohyun is impressed. "Wow, you must know a lot about this."

Seungwan stands up, chuckling as she pulls Joohyun up with her. "No, I'm not." She gestures to the informational posters on the side of the display. "I just read it off that sign right there. Almost fooled you though, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Joohyun smiles.

They funnel into a section with open air, finding more people surrounding the tank in the center. 

"Oh, these must be the otters," Seungwan comments.

Though Joohyun doesn't care much for animals, she understood why so many people were interested in them. They were floating and holding hands! Even Joohyun finds it hard to be scared of them.

Spinning aimlessly about, they look as soft as stuffed animals. The senior feels as though she could watch them drift for hours.

Seungwan pipes up, "They're cute, aren't they?"

"Too cute. I wonder what it would be like to be an otter, just float and hold hands."

She's a little envious of how languid they seemed.

"I'd rather hold hands with you."

"Huh?" Did Joohyun hear that right? "What do you mean?"

Seungwan beams, tapping her finger to Joohyun's nose. "You're cuter."

Joohyun is left a flustered mess as Seungwan simply slides a hand into the senior's. "Isn't it better this way?"

She can't disagree.

"Let's go," Seungwan suggested, as she starts walking toward the next set of doors. "The ocean section is up ahead. I hear they have sharks!"

Her enthusiasm is infectious, leaving Joohyun almost feeling just as excited at the prospect.

The exhibit is more spacious, various tanks lining the walls as well as set up in cylinders in the middle. 

Together, they admire everything from crabs to octopi, the animals crawling along synthetic surroundings of rock faces and sand.

The largest tank is to their left, housing an array of sharks. Naturally, the crowd concentrated there, people bustling past each other to get better views of the sand sharks swimming close to the edge of the tank.

Joohyun is swept up among them, growing increasingly uncomfortable as strangers pressed against her arms to push past, others forgetting the meaning of personal space entirely. Worst of all, she had been separated from Seungwan, unable to spot the short girl amidst the mass of people. As much as she tries to weasel her way out, the flow of visitors is seemingly endless, a riptide that continuously pulls her back.

A hand shoots out over the shoulder of the man just behind her, pushing through with mumbled apologies.

Then appears the bob of brown hair that Joohyun had been searching for.

"There you are!" Seungwan declares, roping her arm around Joohyun. "I've been looking for you."

Easily, she parts the crowd, shuffling past the other visitors as the senior trails behind.

"It's really packed in here," Seungwan observes, the crowd closing in around them as more people filed in to see the sharks. They make their way to an area of the floor with fewer people, finding themselves next to a cylindrical tower that extends to the ceiling, glowing with bioluminescent jellyfish. 

Seungwan catches Joohyun staring as the pink blobs glided along.

"If you think that's cool, you haven't seen anything yet. Here, follow me," Seungwan says, ducking under a section of the glass. Joohyun finds herself on the other side, inside a dome carved into the bottom of the tank, allowing for the pair to become completely enclosed by the display of jellyfish, bobbing like glowing lanterns around them.

"Now the only crowd around us is the jellyfish," Seungwan joked.

Joohyun couldn't say it was less crowded, because as the junior presses into her, it became very clear that the dome was only constructed to house a single occupant at a time. 

Funnily enough, the senior doesn't mind at all. She could never mind being so close to Seungwan, an arm still wrapped around her shoulders, breath tickling her earlobe whenever the girl speaks.

Sheepishly, Joohyun curls inward slightly. "Aren't you going to miss out on the shark exhibit?"

Seungwan replies all too easily.

"Being with you is more important."

Even as the jellyfish bounce along, puppets suspended above, forming a mesmerizing spiral of translucent pink lace, Joohyun is hypnotized by the scent of Seungwan's hair, a flurry of peaches swaying gently at her side. The junior's lips are their own teasing shade of pink, taunting Joohyun as they dance rapidly, reciting a string of facts about the Aequorea species and the chemical reactions that produce their glow. Luciferin. Oxygen. The words grace the shell of Joohyun's ear, floating away too quickly for her to hold.

A tap on her shoulder breaks her out of her stupor. 

"Were you listening, Joohyun?"

When the senior stumbles over an answer, Seungwan can only chuckle as she ducks out of the glass dome, the comforting warmth leaving Joohyun's side.

The president follows, chasing the fragrance of peaches that escapes into the adjacent hall.

They go from one tank to the next, looking at the different species, undersea life put on full display. Seungwan rattles off fact after fact, clearly entranced by the opportunity to see the specimens in person. Joohyun wonders if she's simply reading off the information cards. Sometimes, she scans them, finding that even they lack the material that Seungwan is relaying.

The girl never made her intelligence or passions very obvious, most people simply viewing her as a class clown, an entertainer, nothing more. 

As Seungwan's eyes light up to discuss the delicate differences between stingrays and manta rays, Joohyun sees past that, sees a brilliance that others might not take the time to recognize. 

As much as Seungwan enjoyed her pranks, the intricacy of their execution had to reveal some level of genius on the part of the mastermind.

And Seungwan was a genius.

She is more than pranks, more than amusement, more than entertainment. She is Seungwan, someone who could reveal a world that others could not see, could find courage in dark corridors, could find fascination in fish. 

She is so much more than Joohyun remembered her to be. She is so much better.

Often, while Seungwan's eyes are fixed on the displays, Joohyun's eyes are fixed on her. 

Such is the case even as they make their way to the exit, fingers still interlocked. Seungwan hadn't let go since she lost Joohyun the hour before.

"They save the best for last," the junior says, walking through a doorway that opens up to the most beautiful display Joohyun had ever seen.

It is as if they are traveling through a long tube, water surrounding them in an arch above. The corridor is coated in glass, allowing a direct view underwater.

Rays swim above their heads, belly undersides like magic carpets drifting across the ceiling. Seaweed sways like ribbons, subject to the whims of the currents generated by passing fish. Anemones and coral paint the sand with splashes of color, clownfish dashing in between, flashing like orange stoplights. Eels slither about not much further, hiding in holes that decorate the rock face of the sides of the tank, yellow eyes like flashlights from the deep. 

Joohyun and Seungwan direct their attention upward, heads sweeping to see a large school of fish flit and glimmer in the open water, the mass of scales reflecting light like a shifting disco ball, cut in half and splayed on invisible strings, a shining centerpiece.

They forget the people around them who shuffle over to the exit, nearly unaware of the beauty before their eyes.

In this aquarium, they are the sole witnesses to this everyday miracle. 

The glass fades away. Blue invades their senses.

The sea becomes the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the high school AU no one asked for! I've been sitting on this for a while, and I figured I might as well release the half of it that I have already written, since it ended up going longer than I thought it would. This is going to be a two shot, and I hope you'll look forward to the rest of it hehe. It's crossposted on AFF, as per usual.
> 
> Also, I made an instagram account! @blue.sandpaper (Also, just as a reminder I guess, my twitter user is @bluesandpaper)  
> Give me a follow if you want!! I'll be doing an "Ask me anything" type of deal on the story. My dm's are open if you want to shoot me a message too.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you'll be able to enjoy this until I'm able to get to work on the other things I'm writing hahah. This month has been really busy, and the next few weeks are going to be hell for me, so I hope we can stay in contact through insta or twitter hehe~


	2. The Sea

Joohyun is still daydreaming about their aquarium escapade when they returned to school the following Monday. 

As has become more frequent over the past week, Joohyun is waiting by the door of Seungwan's class at the end of the day.

When the final bell rings, students scuffle by, not withholding their judging comments on the more regular phenomenon that is Joohyun's presence outside the junior classes.

The president catches some hushed whispers roll by.

"What's Joohyun doing here?" asks a girl with glasses.

"She's waiting for Seungwan again," answers a boy with brown hair.

"They've gotten weirdly close recently," says a student with a cardigan.

"I know right. Isn't it weird? I thought Seulgi was Joohyun's best friend," comments a student with a blazer.

"Yeah, and doesn't Seungwan always hang out with those underclassmen?" 

"Maybe they're more than friends."

"They look too close to be just friends sometimes."

Friends. More than friends. Friends.

Usually, Joohyun finds herself more permeable to these kinds of comments than ever, even if she was always at the center of speculation as to her relationship with a male student that spent a little too much time doting on her.

These ones were different somehow. She isn't as used to comments that pierce her ice armor so easily, red hot pokers melting through her exterior.

And the statements only become more hurtful the more she listens.

"Isn't it gross, to see them hanging on each other like that?"

"Ugh, I know. They're both too pretty to swing... _that_ way."

"Maybe they ditched their friends for a new girlfriend."

"I don't even want to think about it."

Is there something that Joohyun's missing? What was wrong about it?

Joohyun's eyes are fixed to the ground, no longer wanting to look at the sources of these unwarranted judgments. She wants to retaliate, deny them. But would any answer be an affirmation on its own?

She doesn't want to find out.

Fortunately, Seungwan swings through the door right on time, a beacon of light in the dark.

Too naturally, she hooks her arm in Joohyun's, beginning their daily walk to the student council room.

"So what are we doing today, president?"

Joohyun's fears subside with Seungwan's voice, easing into her touch.

"We have to approve some requests for clubs that want to participate in the rally."

"Boring paperwork?"

Joohyun nods.

Seungwan grins more than she should at the prospect of filing and paper cuts.

"It won't be boring if it's you and me, right?"

It never is.

Like every other day they had spent after school together, Seungwan manages to do something new.

Today, the junior chooses to make a ruckus, chasing Joohyun around the council room with the stamp she was supposed to be using on the request forms, eventually succeeding on placing a stamp on the back of the senior's hand. The red ink now sears with the word "Approved". 

Seungwan declares triumphantly, "You're officially Seungwan approved, rubber stamp and all!"

Joohyun can't stay mad at the junior after that explanation.

They had finally quieted down and actually gotten to work when Seungwan speaks to break the silence.

"You're going to be the MC, right?"

The senior nods. "Yes, along with someone else from the student body. I have to review the volunteers tomorrow." 

"Oh, I have their requests right here," Seungwan shuffles a few papers out of the stack. "Did you need to fill one out too?"

"Yes. My position does not exempt me from paperwork. Is my form not there?"

Scanning through the names on the sheets, Seungwan frowns.

"No, it's not."

"I must've left it in my locker then. I'll be right back."

Joohyun gets up from her seat, seeing Seungwan rise with her.

"Oh, you don't have to come with. It's just down the hall."

"And be left approving more of these things? No way." Seungwan throws a paper up for effect, before scrambling to pick it up off the floor.

Joohyun finds the action too cute to scold.

"Fine, then."

They exit the classroom, turning the corner to the stretch of lockers that were assigned to the seniors. 

There's a train assignments left carelessly on the floor, lined paper and notebooks scattered about like Hansel and Gretel's candy trail.

"Someone's backpack must have ripped without them noticing," Seungwan remarks, bending down to pick them up. "I wonder who..." She flips one over. "Why do they have your name on them?" Seungwan rifles through the pages. "Oh look, the request form's even here."

Joohyun is bewildered. Her backpack is safe in her locker.

Or is it?

Growing concern crosses her features, running down the hall to her locker. Seungwan rushes to scoop up a few of the other assignments, following quickly behind.

They come across what looks to be some sort of murder scene, Joohyun's locker door swung wide open, papers and textbooks spilling out. The hook that usually carries her bag strangely empty.

Is this a twisted kind of robbery? It couldn't be. Her wallet is still neatly tucked away on the top shelf, and there is no reasonable explanation as to why she would be targeted as opposed to any of the others.

They turn and follow the remaining papers, Seungwan dropping down to pick them up as Joohyun walks briskly to the end of the trail.

Seungwan's already swept this floor once, and she'll be damned if she lets someone dirty it again. If this is a prank, it's not funny.

The papers lead them to an open window, the pair poking their heads through, peering down to see the school fountain, a distinctive purple backpack floating in the water. 

Someone must have thrown it in.

Immediately, Joohyun sprints for the nearest stairs, driven by the motivation of saving the chemistry project she had spent the last two nights working on.

Seungwan runs with her, sliding down the handles of the stairwell to get there faster. The times she spent racing through the hallways have suddenly come in handy, though she never expected she would need the skill for something like this.

The junior swings through the entrance, not hesitating to tear off her school-assigned loafers as she approaches the fountain, rolling up her slacks and hopping in. She fishes out the backpack first, setting it gently on the concrete before she begins scooping out folders and pencil cases.

Seungwan is too busy scrounging in the water to notice another pair of legs send ripples across the surface, hands joining hers in their search.

Together, they successfully rescue the majority of Joohyun's belongings. Thankfully, she's kept most of her assignments in a waterproof binder.

"Who even owns a waterproof binder?" Seungwan asks, stepping out of the fountain.

"For when it rains," Joohyun answers.

The junior erupts into laughter. "I know you always like to stay prepared, but the line between prepared and paranoia is blurring, Hyun."

"It worked out, didn't it?"

Seungwan couldn't argue with that.

They're sitting now on the edge of the fountain, letting water drip down their thighs as they catch their breath. Seungwan, for one, has had more than enough exercise to gain a whole semester's worth of P.E. credits.

In between huffs, Seungwan brings up the question that's on both of their minds.

"Any idea who did it?"

"Not really. I don’t remember anything I’ve done that would result in retaliation like this.”

Seungwan nods, absorbing the information. "I find it hard to believe that you could do anything that would warrant this, but I'm sure there are a lot of people jealous of you."

"There's nothing to be jealous of, I assure you," Joohyun responds timidly.

The junior gives an incredulous look. "Beautiful, brilliant, kind... The list goes on and on. The only flaw you might have is that you're not seeing it."

Joohyun drags her feet along the concrete, watching as droplets draw patterns on the floor. "When the list can include cold and stubborn, it's not a flawless list."

"Still," Seungwan offers, "It's not something to trash your locker over."

Joohyun's silence is its own agreement.

"By the way," Seungwan says, digging her hands into her pockets. "I think I found a note along with your things upstairs."

She fishes out a crumpled piece of notebook paper, handing it to Joohyun.

The hasty scribbles in black ink read: "That's what you get for rejecting me, Ice Queen. Hope your things have a nice _icy_ bath in the fountain. Also, I thought I told you to stay away from her. Consider this an escalation."

It's almost too corny, sounding like a line from the villain of an outdated comic. There's no sign off, no name or identifier. Of course. The person is too much of a coward to reveal their identity, associate themself with such blatantly childish actions.

"A rejection? Doesn't that sound familiar?"

Joohyun skims the note a second time, sighing.

"It must be him."

"The guy from last week?"

"Yes, the one you saved me from." Joohyun's expression softens as she reminisces on Seungwan's strange rescue.

"I didn't quite catch all of what he was saying. You just looked uncomfortable, so I acted without thinking. I'm sorry, by the way."

She looks at her shoes, head ducked down.

Hands are suddenly placed on hers.

"Don't apologize, Wan," Joohyun smiles. "I should've thanked you more earlier. I didn't know him, so I rejected him, told him that I had to focus on my academics." 

"He didn't look like he took it too well then, and he sure as hell isn't taking it too well now."

Internally, Seungwan starts crafting plans of tracking the boy down and unleashing another round of confetti bombs in his locker. It would be a great use of the extras she has from the initial prank.

Joohyun chuckles softly. "This might be one of the better reactions, though, If I'm honest."

"A better reaction? Really?"

"Another boy followed me home and tried asking my father for my hand in marriage."

"Joohyun, that's terrifying."

The senior dismisses the statement with a wave. "I like to think that it must have been more terrifying for that student. My father surely did something that scared him so much that he won't even cross my path in the halls anymore."

Seungwan reasons that she doesn't need to contrive a retaliatory prank for that kid. Joohyun's dad must have already done a phenomenal job.

"Remind me to never do that."

"Do what? Ask for my hand in marriage?" Joohyun teases. "I don't think I have to worry about that."

The junior glows bright red after realizing the implication of her statement.

Unfazed, Joohyun simply continues, ruffling Seungwan's hair, damp with stray droplets.

"I think my dad would go much easier on you."

That makes the usually loud Seungwan quiet for a moment before she rushes to change the subject.

Her wet slacks are chafing against her skin.

"Damn, we're really soaked."

Joohyun doesn't give a response, simply staring at the floor. Her teasing smile just a second before is replaced by a more fraught expression, wrinkles written into her brow. Seungwan gets the sense that the potential implications of the note are finally sinking in. It's almost as if she can see the flurry of thoughts just behind the senior's forehead, brain twisting and turning in a labyrinth of questions as to what it could all mean.

Seungwan doesn't want to see Joohyun like this.

"Do you ever stop caring about what other people think?"

Joohyun looks up from the concrete, eyes overcast.

"I... I don't know."

"Stop. Just for a minute," Seungwan pivots, facing Joohyun. She waves her hand at their surroundings as if trying to wipe steam off of fogged glass. "Pretend that there's only two people left on the entire Earth. Me, and you. Can't you do anything? Like..."

With sudden vigor, she stands. One second, she is watching as water cascades down the tiers of the fountain. The next, Joohyun spins as she hears two splashes in the water, turning to see Seungwan with her pants rolled, face shining with the reflections off the fountain tile.

"Like hop in this fountain!"

"Hey, don't do that without reason! We could get in trouble!"

Joohyun extends her arm, trying to grasp Seungwan's hand and pull her back out of the water. Like a fish, the junior slips out from Joohyun's hold, picking up her feet as she runs just beyond the senior's reach, giggling all the way. Her feet are firmly planted in the blue, water swirling around her shins.

"We can't get in trouble if we're the only two people left in the world! You don't have to care about the rules anymore, the box others put you in. You can do anything!"

She gives a series of playful kicks in Joohyun's general direction, kicking up water like the grass of a soccer field. Joohyun only watches as Seungwan stomps across the fountain, upturning water with splashes as she traipses along. Joohyun fails to stifle a smile when imagining the junior as some sort of toddler, plodding around with her hands holding the seams of her pants.

She almost wants to join in, but knows she can't.

Joohyun can only watch, observing Seungwan as if she is a specimen in a glass jar, removed from the world that she exists in.

"If we were the only two people left in the world, I'd still care about what you think."

Seungwan stops, bringing a leg mid-air back down to settle quietly in the water.

"What I think?" The junior's expression relaxes, exuberant grin taking the shape of a more pleased look. "You should know that I only think of you with adoration."

Joohyun is sheepish, tips of her ears burning red as she focuses on the ripples across the surface of the fountain rather than Seungwan's gaze. 

"I'm sure you think that I'm stubborn too..."

Seungwan chuckles. "Well, you sure are being stubborn now," she says, any bite absent from her tone. Suddenly, she sweeps down, back arched as her hands send waves in the basin, scrambling for the coins on the tile. She straightens up as she cups an assortment of pennies, nickels, and dimes in her hands, shimmering as brightly as the shifting pool of water.

"You know, this fountain was made for wishes," Seungwan remarks, beginning to flick the handful of coins back into the water, marching around in a circle.

A penny is sent soaring. "I wish for Joohyun to stop caring about what others think."

A dime is flung Joohyun's direction. "I wish for Joohyun to start appreciating herself more."

A quarter sinks to the bottom. "I wish for Joohyun to understand that the opinions of others don't determine her self worth. I—"

Joohyun interrupts the constant stream of wishes and coins. "Oh, come on, Seungwan. Stop doing this. We don't live in a vacuum, and your actions have consequences."

The senior actually appears to be more amused, more comforted than she seems to be legitimately admonishing. It would be strange to admit, but with every wish, Seungwan seems to lift a slight burden off of her, like the pressures of others were flinging away with every penny, sinking to the bottom of deep water.

Seungwan can only grin.

"You want me to stop?"

Her eyes flash with something undefinable — amusement, intrigue, mischief.

Joohyun can't help herself from being mesmerized with that indescribable look, youthful and knowing all at once. That is, until Seungwan locks on her, seizing upon her new target.

"Oh no you don't," Joohyun tries to warn, throwing her hands up to shield herself from the oncoming wave Seungwan pushes her direction.

Water meets skin, and Joohyun shivers.

"Would you like me to stop now, President?"

"Of course I do!"

Seungwan's grin only widens. 

"Then make me."

Seungwan should've known beforehand not to mess with Joohyun, apparently not learning her lesson from their brief basketball game days prior. The president's competitive fury never ceased. Seungwan almost feels a little frightened as Joohyun's expression shifts from one of delight to one of sheer determination.

Unlike Seungwan, Joohyun does not have to worry about holding up her pants before she jumps in, kicking as hard and as fast as possible with the mobility that her skirt allowed. 

Seungwan finds herself often evading Joohyun's vicious attacks, hands still clutching the stack of coins she had collected earlier. It doesn't pose a significant handicap however, as she continues to release kick after kick.

Together, they set off a splashing frenzy, both quickly drenched head to toe.

In order to win the battle, Seungwan thinks that she should unleash her biggest attack yet. She reels back, sweeping her right foot behind her in a large arc, preparing to generate a fountain tsunami. But as she moves forward, she must have miscalculated, feeling her foot slide across the tile underneath, left leg giving out as she tumbled forward.

Joohyun throws out a hand to try and catch the girl, or steady her, at least, but as Seungwan hits the water, Joohyun's hand latches onto the end of Seungwan's shirt. She's tugged down with her, crashing into the fountain only seconds later.

A torrent of water and coins becomes confetti, celebrating their fall.

For one moment, they're still, splayed with limbs touching tile, tangled with each other.

The next moment, Seungwan is laughing, leaned back on her palms as her knees point out at odd angles. Her chest rises up and down with every laugh, short brown hair glistening with water. Seungwan's eyes are crescents, lips pulled into their own, somehow both bright and glimmering even without their usual open shine, teeth and irises concealed like a beautiful secret that too much joy wishes to hide.

As she revels in the sweetness, the ridiculousness of this moment, Seungwan's eyelashes flutter, and Joohyun feels her heart do the same. The older girl takes a second to wonder why she's the one with the title of school angel when Seungwan has always been like this — looked so heaven sent.

When they crashed into the water, it seemed that Joohyun had found something at the bottom of the fountain. It wasn't new, more like a realization of something that had already been there, shining like a coin buried in sand, waiting to be uncovered.

Perhaps, just perhaps, she is in love.

It didn't take the sea falling from the sky to realize that, just a smile, a laugh, a stumble, a fall, a splash.

Perhaps, just perhaps, she has been, for a while.

Ever since that day on the rooftop, possibly even long before. 

Love is weird like that. It doesn't have to strike like lightning brimming from a gray, tumultuous sky. It's more like a drizzle, getting sleeves and jeans all wet, but not a hassle to walk through without an umbrella.

Love is like the rain, seeping into the seams of Joohyun's fabric before she's even realized it. And once she does, she realizes she's been drowning for months.

Though Joohyun has always been the cautious type, Seungwan makes her feel like going outside without a raincoat. 

How can drowning feel so liberating, suffocating in all that water?

Then again, that's the difference. Seungwan was always the breaths in between, drops spaced evenly enough to trickle down the sides of your nose, inhale the scent of petrichor.

Loving her was anything but suffocating.

Joohyun is suddenly broken from her silent stare as she has another realization. Her arms are thrown across Seungwan's torso, legs planted on either side of the girl.

She rushes to remove herself, face flushing. But she must've been in too much of a rush, as she only found herself slipping again, falling back down on the junior and grabbing onto her shoulders for support.

Seungwan's hearty laugh lowers to a chuckle. "You just can't get enough of me, can you?"

If it was even possible, Joohyun grows more red at the statement, this time carefully standing up and stepping out onto the dry concrete, gathering up her things and putting them in her backpack, mind too numb to realize that everything is still wet.

Flustered, she sputters, "I- I don't even understand why you're laughing so hard."

Seungwan gets up after her, smiling that patented megawatt smile. "Just thinking about the fountain myth."

Joohyun's eyebrow quirks up as if to ask what that means, Seungwan reading the expression, following, "There's a rumor on campus that if two students fall into the fountain together, they'll fall in love."

Joohyun can't bring herself to respond, as she would surely stumble over her words so badly that she would fall right back into the fountain.

As she watches Joohyun flounder, Seungwan takes the opportunity to recover the treasure she lost in the aftermath of her stumble, scrounging for some change. Again, silver and copper dart over the surface of the water as she resumes her circumambulatory march, coins plinking and plunking with every flick of Seungwan's hand. 

"I wish Joohyun would understand that this is what it feels like to stop caring about what others think. I wish I could see her this happy all the time."

Joohyun can't restrain herself from giving Seungwan a smack on the hand, reaching over the water and sending a few coins flying. 

"If you're going to make wishes off of other people's money... At least make some for yourself."

"I'm not wishing for anything that I don't want," Seungwan answers smugly.

"Fine then. I'll wish for you."

She snatches some spare change from Seungwan's open palm.

"I wish for Seungwan and I to be the only two people left in the world. I wish that Seungwan could be this happy all the time, with a genuine smile, not the one she plasters on for others..."

The junior's contented sighs break Joohyun's train of hopes.

"It's no use wishing for things that already are, Joohyun."

The president's head quirks to the side. "But these haven't come true yet?"

"To me, they already have." Seungwan's eyes shine when Joohyun's only twist in bewilderment, nose scrunched in confusion. "We make them come true. You already make me feel as though there's not a single other soul in the rest of the world. You give me my most genuine smile."

The way that Seungwan is smiling in that moment, the way the reflections draw streaks across her face, highlighting raised cheeks with blue light, Joohyun thinks that perhaps this fountain is magical after all.

"I guess I don't need the rest of these then, right?" The junior tosses the coins in the air, catching them as they clink, settling on top of each other. "I guess I could use them on one large wish then. I'll make this a big one..."

She brings cupped hands to her lips, enclosing the coins, concealing them from view as she whispers her final wish like a secret meant to be kept within the confines of this fountain. With less ceremony, she drops them all in, the shine of metallic bronze and silver flickering like stars suspended above the water, the surroundings all twinkling as if she had scattered fairy dust instead of silver.

Joohyun breaks the silence, breaks the magic with her curiosity.

"You didn't say the wish out loud."

Seungwan's eyes flicker with residual wonder.

"I want to be sure this one comes true."

Joohyun almost wants to probe further, understand why this wish would be so monumental that it has sworn Seungwan to secrecy, but she is stalled by a low voice calling out across the courtyard.

"Hey, what are you doing in there?" the voice bellows.

Ah, Mr. Kim, the physical education teacher. He is notorious for getting Seungwan in trouble.

Upon seeing him, the junior vaults over the edge of the fountain, slinging Joohyun's backpack over her shoulder as she takes the senior's wrist.

"Come on, let's run!"

Joohyun's eyes dart between Seungwan and the approaching Mr. Kim. Hesitation takes a hold of her.

"But you see Seungwan, we're not... We're not the only two people left in the world. We can actually get in trouble and—"

Seungwan turns back to look at the frazzled senior, a grin better than words. 

"Pretend that it doesn't matter for one minute, just like we did before. I promise it'll be alright."

She readies her legs to move, and Joohyun finds herself subconsciously doing the same. With the first stride, Seungwan exclaims with finality, "And I don't make promises I can't keep!"

Joohyun doesn’t have time to respond, already pulled along by Seungwan past the entrance gates, past the lazy teacher trying to shout at them to come back. Her hands are sweaty, and she doesn't know if it’s because of the adrenaline coursing through her from finally shirking the rules, a gleaming moment of teenage rebellion, or if it’s because of just one teen rebel whose hand she was holding.

She doesn't notice the sensation of their loafers hitting the cement sidewalks transitioning to the asphalt lining the alleyways surrounding the school, how her squeaky clean, polished shoes are finally getting scuffed. She can only notice how Seungwan's own beat up soles are crashing the pavement in front of her, how her short hair somehow looks longer in this breeze, carrying the scent of peaches toward Joohyun as they run.

It's almost as if they’re flying, as if Seungwan had sprouted water wings, an angel that could carry Joohyun away. A halo of light adorns Seungwan's crown, created by a vision trick, sunlight shifting and filtering through the leaves of trees disappearing overhead as they run past.

But there are no angels, just Seungwan and Joohyun, running like fools down the streets.

Somehow, it's better.

After ten minutes of running, they wind up on the streets of residential suburbia, streets that Joohyun recognizes.

Seungwan slows to a walk, Joohyun following suit.

"Are we going to your house?" Joohyun asks between heavy breaths.

"Yeah," the junior shrugs. "I figured why not. I thought that it wouldn't make any sense to go back and continue planning for an event when our day has already been so _eventful_."

"For some reason, I assumed your stupid puns would stop once you got to high school."

"They only got better, really."

Their aimless conversation and bickering over the quality of Seungwan's humor takes them all the way to the junior's house.

They walk up the doorstep, Seungwan fumbling with keys.

"Parents are out of town today, so you don't have to worry about them."

"Oh, but I wouldn't want to intrude while they're gone. I could always just come back later."

Joohyun nearly smiles at the implication that she has a reason to come back. But Seungwan's already through the front door, shuffling off her shoes.

"You're welcome anytime, seriously. Just come in, Joohyun."

Seungwan pulls her in by the hand before she can protest.

"What did you even bring me here for?" Joohyun questions as Seungwan waltzes into the kitchen, setting their things down. If Joohyun noticed earlier that the junior was carrying their things the whole time they ran, she would've had them stop sooner. Luckily, the girl is smiling too brightly to appear bothered by it.

Seungwan puts a hand on her hip. "Well, I don't know if you have a goldfish memory and completely forgot about our recent fountain escapade, which sort of dropped the 'ad' and turned into an escape, but this was the first place I thought of to go."

"We could've run to the parking lot where my car was."

As Seungwan grabs some towels hanging by the sink, laying them out on the kitchen tile to absorb the water from Joohyun's backpack, she responds, "And just drive home like sane people? That wouldn't be much fun." She smirks, receiving an eye roll from Joohyun.

The false annoyance that the older girl displays is not nearly enough to stop Seungwan from continuing to be playful. "Besides, we were soaked! I'm sure the janitors wouldn't have wanted us to throw water all over the tile."

Joohyun lets out a defeated sigh. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Drying off sounds good. Unless you want to stay in that wet, increasingly translucent school uniform. Also pink? I couldn't say that was really expected, Hyunnie."

Joohyun looks down at her damp white shirt, cheeks growing the same color as the undergarment Seugnwan had just pointed out. She scrambles to cross her arms over her chest.

"Aw," Seungwan drawls out, only lightly mocking. "You covered up the view."

Joohyun is only more flustered, sputtering, "Stop joking, Seungwan. Do you have a change of clothes?"

With a click of her tongue, Seungwan disappears up the stairs, Joohyun quick to follow, still mindful to keep her hands folded over her chest. 

Seungwan spins around when they reach the top, teasing expression painted on her face.

"If I had a body like yours, I wouldn't be covering it up."

Joohyun blanches, mouth parted yet unable to respond. Before she can come up with a retort, Seungwan continues down a hallway, headed toward her room. Seungwan lets out a giggle as she reaches her door, hand twisting the knob.

"What?" Joohyun asks, simultaneously defensive and bashful.

"It's okay, Joohyun," Seungwan says, speech interrupted by the opening and closing of cabinet doors. "I'm only joking."

"Your jokes aren't funny."

Congratulations, it's Joohyun's long awaited first quippy response of the day. At this point, the score must be somewhere along the lines of Seungwan 34 - 1 Joohyun, but she'll take it.

This line only has Seungwan wriggling her eyebrows.

"Maybe there's just something in them that you're just not getting."

The scoreboard flipped in Joohyun's head. 35 - 0 Joohyun.

She wasn't aware of any sport in which you could lose points, but surely she just did.

Seungwan hands Joohyun a neatly folded set of clothes. "Here, I pulled out some clothes that should fit you. They're just sweats, but it should be fine. There's a bathroom back down the hall, the second door on the right. It's themed like an ocean paradise — thanks Mom — so you really can't miss it."

"Is it alright if I—" Joohyun starts.

"Take a shower?" Seungwan finishes. "Sure, go for it. I'll be taking one in here, so I don't have to worry about keeping you preoccupied." 

Seungwan ducks in to the bathroom adjacent to her room to turn on the water before returning to her cabinets and pulling out her own set of clothes. She leaves Joohyun with a final comment and a wink as the senior exits.

"I don't have to worry about you sneaking a peek, right?"

Joohyun shuts the door more quickly than she ever has in her life.

* * *

When Joohyun returns to Seungwan's room, she realizes how much escaped her notice while caught up in the junior's antics. She marvels at how much it's changed over the years. Whereas the walls were sparsely populated, they are now plastered with even more posters of Seungwan's favorite musicians. The window just beside the desk now has a clothesline attached to the top corners, pins holding pictures of Sooyoung, Yerim, and Seungwan. Often, there would be more pictures of just Sooyoung and Yerim, the junior presumably behind the camera.

Joohyun continues scanning the room and spots a familiar guitar in the corner, stickers now decorating almost every inch of its surface. She wonders how much Seungwan's improved since she first picked it up those years ago, when shy chords would echo out from between smaller fingers, short demonstrations of what the girl had learned in her lessons that day. Joohyun remembers that despite little mistakes, despite too much sliding or buzzing from inexperienced strings, she would hang on to every note like the songs Seungwan sang were a confession, each carrying a letter that spelled out something about love.

She wishes that they really were confessions now.

At the very least, they were friends again, and that was more than Joohyun could ask for. But the quickening rhythm of her heart tapped out an internal message in morse code, one that secretly wished for something more. As if being something more with Seungwan would mean that she could have more fountain hopping, more dances on rooftops, more spontaneous storage room monologues, more confetti surprises. And she thinks that although she's never really liked surprises before, Seungwan could change her mind.

Maybe that fountain myth is true after all.

While Joohyun is peering around the room, Seungwan is splayed across her bed, legs loosely tangled in a blue blanket, a chipmunk plushie tucked away in a corner of the bed. She's scrolling through something on her phone, damp, short hair lain across a towel, only looking up once at Joohyun after she notices her standing there.

"You can sit anywhere you want." She gestures toward the swivel chair in front of her desk. "You can take the rolly chair." She then points at the set of beanbags pushed against her closet. "There's also the beanbags." Seungwan then scoots slightly from her spot on the bed, patting the empty space she's just created. She peels her eyes from the screen to direct a smirk Joohyun's way. "Your final option is here, next to me."

Joohyun rushes to the swivel chair by the desk, the closest of the options that didn't involve sitting on the bed next to Seungwan. 

Laughing lightly at Joohyun's actions, Seungwan teases, "I don't bite, bunny."

The senior really didn't know what she signed up for when she first asked Seungwan to help her. Of course, she knew that the girl would a great resource when it comes to fun, albeit unorthodox events and, as more of an ulterior motive, it would be a great opportunity for them to rekindle their relationship. However, she doesn't recall ordering a side of mushy mashed potato feelings or a healthy dollop of Seungwan's flirts. If they were actually flirts, that is. Joohyun couldn't tell what with Seungwan's already boisterous attitude. Perhaps Joohyun is just getting too many ideas now. It seems that these days, her pale skin is almost always tinted pink.

To distract herself from the churning in her chest, Joohyun spins around to look at the contents of Seungwan's desk. She sees books neatly stacked, school materials ordered and organized in their respective shelves, everything categorized and in their proper place. This seemed very contrary to the carefree — often edging dangerously into reckless manner — that Seungwan often had.

As if reading Joohyun's thoughts, Seungwan speaks up, watching Joohyun from her spot on the bed. 

"Surprised?"

"A little."

"Don't be. Organization is required for all of the best pranks."

Rolling her eyes, as she swivels around, Joohyun replies, "And you told me you had no skills for event planning."

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

As Joohyun smiles, a purple bag by the door catches her eye. The junior must have brought it up for her. Sweet.

Yet it serves as a reminder of sorts, that Joohyun should be leaving now, shouldn't continue learning more about the life Seungwan has led without her, how she's changed and grown in her absence. 

But she swings the chair back around, starts looking into the drawers, wanting to see the little quirks that Seungwan has accumulated. She looks to Seungwan, searching for some reaction or opposition to her rifling, but there is none. The junior simply glances over with an ambivalent expression before rolling over to face the wall.

Joohyun assumes that is a permission if any, and begins opening drawers. In one, she finds scattered trinkets, arcade tokens, a pressed four leaf clover. It's more disorganized than the more frequented shelves above the desk, more aligned with Joohyun's initial perception of Seungwan. It was as if Seungwan had just put things there to keep, but never open.

Using her hands to brush away bits and baubles, she sees something she recognizes, a purple envelope, a letter she had written to Seungwan to open for when she graduated — when she left Seungwan behind. She takes it out, the lingering scent of the lavender perfume she used to wear so much of at the time hanging onto its exterior. She flips the flap open, bunny sticker still attached to it.

But there's no letter to be found.

As her curiosity piques, she opens the leftmost drawer, finding it full of paper cranes. The colors and patterns form a desultory mosaic. The crisp folds and details along the wings indicate that some have been folded with origami paper, while strange colors and arbitrary fonts decorate the edges of others, appearing to have been made with discarded worksheets and flyers.

Joohyun reaches into the drawer, pulling out a deceivingly simple crane folded from a piece of notebook paper. It was resting atop all the others, placed gently, yet appearing as though more attention had been paid to it than the others. The creases were worn, edges frayed in the way that paper that had been folded and unfolded too many times often were.

Adjusting the desk lamp, she places the creation on the surface of Seungwan's desk before picking it up to inspect it more carefully, turning it over in her hand. There's handwriting scrawled all across it, following the printed blue lines that zig-zag horizontal to the folds. She runs her hand from beak to tail, trying to make out the bits and pieces of sentences. The blue ink looks familiar. On the underside of the left wing, she sees words that confirm her suspicions.

"Dear Wan"

She needs to unfold it more than anything, remember what she wrote. As she positions her hands along the seams, she hesitates, thinking that it would be best to ask Seungwan first.

"Hey, Seungwan?"

"What's up?"

The senior brandishes the crane in hand. "Is it fine if I unfold this and read it?"

The junior pulls her phone down, expression flickering with realization as she catches the crane in her eyeline. The corner of her lips tug down, eyes softening. She buries her face into the pillow, muffling her voice.

"You wrote it."

Joohyun thinks that that is as much of an agreement as she'll get from the younger girl, taking it as her cue to unfurl the crane.

_Dear Wan,_

_By the time you read this, I'll officially be a high school student! As I'm writing this, I'm not quite there yet, but I can imagine that you must've been at my graduation, holding back tears. I know you've been worried that things might change. This letter is to assure you that they won't._

_So I'll make a few promises._

_1\. I promise we'll still hang out as much as possible. Though I might be busy with the increased workload, I’ll still come over whenever I can. And you can always come over to my house. Maybe sometimes you’ll be stuck watching me study, but I think you’d still like even that. I don’t mind. I like doing nothing with you._

_2\. I promise to keep texting and calling all the time. Even when I'm busy, I'll be able to talk to you. I just hope that you won't be too busy to pick up._

_3\. I promise we'll be best friends forever. I feel like this one doesn't need extensive explanation._

_4\. I promise to always love you. Even if there are periods where we don't talk, even if you become annoying when I'm away, even if you somehow grow taller than me, even if you change your hairstyle and chop off those bangs you know I adore, I'll still love you._

_Forever and always,_

_Hyun_

As she looks at her loopy, clumsy, outdated signature, Joohyun finds herself burrowing her fingers into the paper, as if it is a last note from a disappearing loved one, even if the disappearing one was only her. She almost cries, almost mourns over the promises she didn't keep.

If not promises, at least she was used to keeping tears in.

Joohyun moves to fold it only to realize that she doesn't have the faintest clue as to how to recreate the crane that Seungwan had made so many times before. She smooths it out, opening the drawer and laying it neatly atop the pile of paper birds. She is certain that once she leaves, Seungwan will find it, fold it again.

She spins slowly in her chair. Seungwan's eyes are on her, head raised slightly off her pillow, hovering. She doesn't look in scrutiny nor pity. Her face is veiled in some expression that Joohyun can't read. But it doesn't hurt, isn't sharp like the daggered looks she's been receiving from passing students in the hallways. Her look is soft, comforting, almost as if Joohyun could drown in the ripples of brown that comprised Seungwan's irises.

Like being pulled from the deep, Seungwan's face disappears into sheets.

Perhaps Joohyun was correct in that she had no right to get such an intimate glimpse into Seungwan's life after she had already relinquished her claim to it, even if all she got were stray slices of the girl, puzzle pieces that she had to assemble herself. Perhaps she should just leave now, allow the hurt she had inflicted on the girl to heal rather than open up old wounds, sprinkle salt in the crevices of flesh. 

But the other part of her screamed to stay, pleaded to make it up to the girl. After all, in Joohyun's short list of broken promises, the thrumming in her chest tells her that she did keep the last one.

Was it enough?

Seungwan shifts as she hears the click of the desk lamp shutting off, but doesn't turn to speak, her usual quick tongue stilled. She shifts more when she hears the padding of feet across her carpet, even more when it's followed by a dip at the edge of her bed. She finally turns to look.

"Joohyun?"

Abruptly, her question is muffled by a sweatshirt pressed against her, the body underneath trembling slightly. 

But it is warm, familiar, and Seungwan doesn't want Joohyun to let go.

Seungwan doesn't think that it would hurt to probe one more time, though.

"What's this for?"

The room is bathed in silence in the seconds it takes for Joohyun to respond, choosing her response carefully. As she waits, Seungwan's senses are filled with lavender and fabric softener, slow caresses, fingers running through her hair. 

In the end, Joohyun doesn't quite answer the question.

"I promise I'll stay this time."

Seungwan likes this answer more.

* * *

They waste away hours just like that, snuggled close. It seems as if they don't care about the sudden lack of personal space. It was all too easy to slot into each other's arms, a perfect fit, like it had been before. The silence, a blanket, comfortable and soft. Wool pulled over already closed eyes.

Neither cares about the implications of their hearts beating in tandem, only caring about the sensations they bring, the warmth of hands around torsos, slow breaths across collarbones.

Sometimes they interrupt the silence with whispers, small secrets exhaled into the space between them, conversations about anything and everything. Why the universe constantly expanded. What they would do if it ever stopped. 

Aside from conversations about the far future that exists at the end of existence, Seungwan has another thought on her mind, about a nearer future, one that didn't involve the end of the world.

"What are you going to do about that note?"

"I don't really know yet." Eyes blissfully shut, Joohyun pulls Seungwan a centimeter closer. "It's scary. I don't want to think about what it might mean."

"Speaking of what it means, that 'her', in the note. It must be me, right?"

Joohyun's eyelids quiver. "I can't think of anyone else I've spent more time with these past days."

"Then you're not doing a very good job of it, staying away from me."

If Joohyun's eyes were open, she would notice the way Seungwan's lips are pulled up, one corner of her mouth higher than the other, smile askew.

The senior only nestles further into the crook of Seungwan's neck.

"I suppose I'm not."

Silence settles around them, a companion in the quiet of Seungwan's room.

But Joohyun chases it away with another question, voice supplanting the sounds of the tree branch knocking on the junior's window.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Be so carefree?"

Seungwan shrinks at the question, sheets contracting as her legs pull them along. 

"I'm not though. There's still so many things I care about. I care about making others smile. I care about my studies, surprisingly. That's why my desk is so organized — I actually use it."

Joohyun disturbs Seungwan's spiel with curt laughter, quieting down to let her go on.

Seungwan's eyes crinkle at the corners. "And I care about my friends. I care about my family... I care about you."

Seungwan combs her hands through Joohyun's hair, twirling locks around her fingers.

As she feels herself unwind at Seungwan's touch, Joohyun thinks back to that question in the gym. Reputation or love.

"But do you care about what others think?"

Bubbles rise at the question, filtering out through Seungwan's lighthearted laughter. 

"Of course I do. But only if I care about _them_. There are some people who matter in your life, those you can't live without. Mine is a very short list, my family, Sooyoung, Yerim, you." Seungwan's finger disentangles itself from Joohyun's hair. "Why should I bother with the opinions of anyone else beyond that?"

"Why do I, then?"

A hand trails down the side of Joohyun's jaw, each touch writing words of reassurance and understanding into her skin.

"Sometimes we can't help it, I think. After all, these are people we see every day. Maybe our brains can't distinguish people we can't live without between people who are always around."

Joohyun has left the persona of class president and model student behind, shedding her skin, laid out raw for Seungwan to hold. Her voice comes out like the glass under her leather skin, shattered, vulnerable, fragile.

"I feel like mine should be able to."

"It's okay to be concerned with others. It just means that you're considerate, empathetic. But when that crosses into the realm of insecurity... Well, I'll just let you know that you're someone too good to be insecure."

"Too good? I think that's just what others think. They think I'm so perfect that they put me on this pedestal, one I don't think I belong on. I'm scared of what might happen if they find out. Will they topple my statue?"

Seungwan's words are no longer full of their usual puns, usual flirts. Somehow, they're exactly what Joohyun needs to hear.

"I might be full of random advice, but I can't pretend that I know exactly what to say here, Hyun. I just wish I could make you happy, despite that. I can only offer that I'll be there for you, even when the statue tumbles, even when the sea falls from the sky."

The conversation drifts to a lull. Somehow they stumble on the topic of school, what they're going to do after, whether Joohyun still wants to be a writer, whether Seungwan still wants to pursue music. They wonder what kind of homework they'd have in university, whether assignments on music theory or literature would kill their passions.

Homework... Homework...

Why does something gnaw at the corner of Seungwan's mind?

A revelation splashes across her face like a bucket of cold water.

She scrambles to get up from the bed, pulling up some sheets to scrounge around under her bed for her bag. 

Joohyun is left in a disarray of blankets and confusion. 

"Seungwan, what's wrong?"

"It's a school night, and I completely forgot about my homework!" 

With all of these existential problems, more concrete ones would never stop plaguing them.

Joohyun sits up as Seungwan checks under her desk.

"You can't wait until tomorrow morning?"

"I have a half-written five page report that'll be thrown into the test category due tomorrow morning!" Seungwan runs her hands through her hair, bottom lip caught between her teeth. "It can't wait!"

She stops her frantic pacing about the room as recognition dawns on her features.

"I left my bag at the school."

Conveniently, Joohyun remembers that her car is still sitting in the vacant parking lot. Her parents would kill her if she left it there.

Seungwan reads Joohyun's troubled expression, offering her hand to help the girl stand. 

"How do you feel about sneaking into the school at night?"

* * *

There is something about Seungwan that makes Joohyun feel like breaking the rules. So here she is, breaking the rules again.

It's almost nine, nowhere near the dead of night yet, but she's never been to school at this hour, not without permission, keys, an activity slip, anything that would provide proof that she was allowed to be here.

As they walk through the shrubs near the side entrance of the school, Seungwan tries finding a way to still the senior's nerves.

"How about we play a game?"

"Another one?"

"Truth or dare. It's simple. You already know the rules. Whoever isn't able to answer truthfully or fails a dare loses."

"I don't know, Seungwan. Sounds like it could be dangerous playing with you."

Seungwan throws a sly look Joohyun's way. 

"Too chicken to flirt with danger, Hyun?"

Joohyun could be called many things, but hell if she would allow herself to be called chicken.

"Never."

They approach the metal fencing, Joohyun dubious of Seungwan's plans.

"Why can't we just go through the front gates?"

"There are cameras there, duh. Don't worry, I've snuck in through here a couple of times to set up pranks and have never gotten caught."

Joohyun crosses her arms. "Who's to say that now isn't the perfect time to be caught?"

"Fair point, but I'm pretty confident," Seungwan says as she puts a foot through a crosshatch of the fence, testing if it holds. "And hey, don't try bullying me to get out of truth or dare."

The senior recoils, defensive. "I'm not!"

Seungwan only beams. "Sure you are. Anyway, you go first. Joohyun, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Isn't that the coward's way out?"

Joohyun huffs, arms folded. "Not if there's interesting secrets to spill."

Seungwan starts her ascent over the fencing, effortlessly going hand over hand as she continues the conversation. 

"Somehow, I doubt that you have that many secrets."

"How will you know if you don't ask?"

"Fine then." A beat of quiet save for the whirring of Seungwan's thoughts follows. "Any of those dating rumors turn out to be true? I swear there have been like five different times people have assumed you were dating that one senior with the nice hair."

Joohyun's face contorts into disgust, causing Seungwan to nearly cackle.

"I'll take that as a no."

Joohyun nods to confirm Seungwan's conclusion, lips still pursed at the egregious assumption.

As the junior swings over the top of the fence, trained experience written into the ease of her movements, she continues as she makes her way down the other side. 

"What, none of the boys at school meet your standards? I know you get a lot of confessions."

"No, no. It's nothing like that. I just didn't find them very interesting, or compatible, I suppose."

Seungwan prevents herself from breaking into a grin. 

Jooyhun goes on, as if more explanation is needed.

"Besides, I should be focusing on my studies, right?"

"Sure, Joohyun."

By then, Seungwan's feet are already firmly planted on the concrete of the other side. She reaches through the metal diamonds to poke Joohyun's nose, the owner of which has been intently watching as Seungwan made her way across. The senior's nose twitches, scrunching like a rabbit at the sudden contact.

"Are you going to hop over the fence, bunny?"

Joohyun is fiddling with the seam of the sweatshirt Seungwan lent her. Seungwan doesn't feel like pressuring her too much.

"It's fine, you can just wait here and I'll run and get my bag and your car." The junior sticks her hand back through the fence, wiggling her fingers. "Got any keys for me?"

Seungwan is surprised when she doesn't feel cool metal, but rather, a warm hand.

"I'll come with," the senior insists. "But first, it's your turn, isn't it? Truth or dare."

Seungwan rolls her eyes, but the expression of seeming sarcasm doesn't match the smile making its way across her lips.

"Dare."

Joohyun puts a hand to her chin, contemplating what she should make Seungwan do. Her eyes light up with the answer, letting the idea grace her tongue. 

"I dare you to help me over."

"After I'm already on the other side?"

"Rejecting a dare so soon?"

Seungwan immediately begins climbing. 

"Never."

In an instant, her sneakers meet the grass back on Joohyun's side. Seungwan looks at Joohyun expectantly, urging the girl to step up to the fencing. 

Joohyun clambers up to it, hands wrapping around the iron. She looks at Seungwan with a shaky smile. 

"There's nothing to it, really, Hyun. Just start climbing." Seungwan walks up to the girl, places her hands firmly on either side of her lower back. "I'll be here to catch you, don't worry."

With Seungwan's support, Joohyun ascends a rung at a time, the warmth of Seungwan's hands burning a hole into her back. Perhaps she moves faster because of it, already at the top. When Joohyun was halfway up, Seungwan stopped spotting her and started scaling the fence herself.

Joohyun is sitting on the top, apprehensive to jump down. Seungwan vaults over the top with ease, landing on the grass of the other side with a thud.

The senior looks at the ground, feels herself get queasy. Why is she even doing this?

The junior looks up at her, arms open wide.

"If you jump, I'll catch you. I won't let you fall."

That's the only thing Joohyun needs to hear to take the leap.

* * *

When they enter the classroom, windows have been left open by forgetful students, curtains billowing with a late summer breeze. The white curtains feel more like fresh linen hung out on clotheslines, waving a greeting to the pair. The moon is filtering through the classroom, painting squares of light across the hardwood floor.

Seungwan isn't lost in the view, only lost in Joohyun's voice, how it's been echoing through the empty hallways. She's listened to stories of Joohyun's most embarrassing moments and heard explanations as to why she's scared of everything that moves. The senior chooses truth far more than dare, but Seungwan couldn't mind less. She would never mind learning more about her.

"So, Joohyun, truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Oh, feeling adventurous for a change, are we?"

"It's not like you can dare me to do anything dangerous in here."

Of course, with that prompt, Seungwan immediately starts contriving the most dangerous thing that one could do. 

"I dare you to stand on a desk."

Joohyun balks. 

"Stand on a desk? But they-"

A smug smile grows on Seungwan's face.

"So you want to lose then, reject the dare?"

Joohyun's steps up the chair answer Seungwan's challenge.

She stands upon it triumphant, seeing above the sea of desks and the tides of moonlight dancing across the floor, shifting with the churn of the curtains. She feels like a princess, ruling over her kingdom with this newfound vantage.

Seungwan watches Joohyun's grin grow.

"Now touch the ceiling."

"We're not allowed follow up's are we?"

"What's the harm? You're already up there."

So Joohyun stretches to the ceiling, fingertips barely able to graze the plaster overhead. Strangely she feels magical, feels mighty. It is as if the world is reduced to nothing but the four walls of this classroom, the only light that from the moon, the only breeze that which whistles through the windows, the only person the one that is standing on the floor below her.

Joohyun lowers her arms.

"We're the only people in the world."

Seungwan smiles.

"And you can do anything, right?"

She can do anything.

And so she does. She starts hopping from one desk to another, foot after foot leaving dirt on the surfaces of the tables. Seungwan clambers up onto the desks and they play a dangerous game of tag, going diagonally, sideways, across the chessboard of wood, a knight and a queen dancing on squares. 

But Seungwan catches the queen, grabs onto the sleeve of her shirt. They come to a standstill. The chase is over. They step down off the desks, giggling.

Seungwan quickly spots her blue backpack thrown carelessly under the chair in the front corner of the room, but doesn't rush to grab it. Instead, she goes to the window, leans her arms on the sill. Joohyun joins her. They whisper their questions to the wind, dares all but forgotten in the swirl of it all.

But they wrap around to an interesting question.

"If you could do anything you wanted in the world without consequence, what would you do?"

Seungwan watches as Joohyun bites her lower lip, mind appearing to rush with thoughts, as if the girl is flashing through so many things, none of it she feels permitted to say aloud, as if once the words leave her mouth, they will be carried on a breeze out the window to someone's ear, someone that shouldn't hear.

"I don't know," she answers, taking a seat in some vacant chair.

"What do you mean you don't know. Surely there's something."

Seungwan walks closer, throws a glance over to the shining moon before directing her look towards Joohyun.

"There are things I know I could never do."

Seungwan can only laugh. "But that's the point of the question Joohyun. Those things you could never do, what would they be if there were no consequences?"

The senior shrugs, sinks further into the chair. 

"I can't live like you, Seungwan," she says without anger, tone only indicating a hint of solemn defeat. "I can't always live like my actions don't have consequences."

The junior appears by Joohyun's side, has taken a chair and dragged it to the desk opposite her, put her head in her palms as she marvels at the senior staring dejectedly out the window in the direction of the moon that Seungwan had just been peering at.

"I think you've got me all wrong, Hyun. It's not that I think there are no consequences for my actions. I know there are. It's just... It's just that I know the benefits outweigh the harms." She leans the back of her chair against the desk behind her, kicking her legs up in the way the teachers always warn you not to do. "You see, I don't just act on impulse. I think. And I think a lot more than you all assume I do. I think about fish. I think about pranks. I think about joy. I think about the rain, the sea, and the sky. I think about what I want to do today. I think about whether or not what I'm doing is able to make others happy. I think about you."

"You think about me?"

"Only all the time," she replies with a soft smile so unlike her usual megawatt grin, eyes drawn languidly to the ceiling as if counting the tiles like counting sheep.

"All the thinking, doesn't that have consequence too?"

"Sometimes. Especially if I think about a certain thing for too long."

"What sort of things would that include?"

Seungwan lets the legs of the chair clank to the floor as she stands up, palms pressed against the edge of the desk in front of Joohyun.

The senior is looking up at her, irises swirling like tide pools in the reflection of the moon.

"I've been thinking about this one thing for so long, wondering if there will be a consequence I'll regret. Suddenly, I—"

She feels mesmerized by those irises. They sway as Joohyun's eyes scan Seungwan's face, bewildered, intrigued, perplexed. Seungwan wanted to dive right in.

Love makes people bold.

And Seungwan has been in love with Joohyun for a long time. 

Love makes her bold enough to battle the monsters of Party City. Love makes her bold enough to recite Romeo and Juliet. Love makes her bold enough to hop fountains, to dance in the rain.

She fell in love with kind eyes the first day she transferred in middle school, when she found her first fan, the first one to pay her any attention.

She thought that she'd forgotten her feelings, but every moment together had proven otherwise. 

Because Joohyun still had those kind eyes, that compassion that Seungwan felt every time the senior took her hand, listened attentively to ramblings about sea creatures, tagged along on stupid escapades.

Seungwan was in love and love made her bold. Bold enough to scale fences. Bold enough to roam the school at night. Bold enough to...

So she leans down. She kisses her.

It's fast. Their lips collide. Seungwan's hand cups Joohyun's cheek. Her lips are as soft, as mildewy as she had always imagined them to be. This kiss was all she had been thinking about since that day on the rooftop, the day that the sea fell, the day that the sky fell. 

And if Joohyun was the sea, and Seungwan the sky, their lips would be the horizon, mouths pressed together like a line of blue beckoning for a cosmic crash.

But it was over as quickly as it had begun. 

As Seungwan pulls away, she swears she can feel traces of ocean salt line her lips.

Instead of running away, instead of flustering, Seungwan just stands, smiles.

"I hope that kiss won't have consequence."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I know this took longer than I intended it to, but I hope the wait was worth it. Through much deliberation, I'm extending this into a three parter. I hope that you'll be okay with waiting again. It should be good news, actually, since it means that there will be more content for this story. I hope you like it.
> 
> I delivered this in time for Valentine's day where I am and maybe even Wenrene day where you are! So happy Valentine's and Wenrene day hehe~
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next one. Until then, shameless plug, follow me on instagram @blue.sandpaper and on twitter @bluesandpaper


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